Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: The Beast
by Mirai-Rogue-Prime
Summary: A side story from the Gryps War
1. Chapter One

Forward: Hello folks. I've decided to try my hand at a Gryps War fic, you can blame RC, Zine and HDS if you want. Here we get to see some of the characters from my CCA Era fic (Wayward Warriors) a little earlier in their careers and yes I know I'm stupid for writing these out of order but when the muse calls you just have to come running.

Latest Forward: Hello and welcome to newly revised version of _The Beast_. There are a few changes here and there. This is probably a good place to give Special thanks to Redcomet for allowing me to use his '_Forrestal_'-type _Salamis_ heavy cruiser design in this fic. And now on with the show!

In the opening stages of the One Year War a horrific battle took place around Side 5. In a desperate attempt to stop the Principality of Zeon launching a second colony drop the Earth Federal Forces committed nearly its entire remaining space forces to the battle. The fighting was fierce and brutal. Despite losing over half its forces the Earth Federal Forces managed to prevent the dreaded second colony drop, but it was a shallow victory as the entire Side was wiped out along with its two and a half billion inhabitants.

Now, years later, one of Side 5's last sons has made his way home.

_AEUG 'Forrestal'-type Salamis heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

_17th August UC 0087_

Lieutenant James Keffer sat in the right hand command chair on the bridge of the AEUG '_Forrestal_'-type _Salamis_ heavy cruiser _Valiant_. As AEUG warships went the _Valiant_ was part of a rare breed of modified _Salamis Kai_ class cruisers. The set of modifications were named after the first AEUG _Salamis Kai_ to receive the treatment. The bow section was expanded considerably to facilitate a compliment of six mobile suits although, as in the case of the _Valiant_, it was possible to squeeze a seventh in if it stood on the mobile suit elevator. Although the bow section was not wider and long four of the missiles launchers had been removed to make more room for the mobile suit hanger. While the large mobile suit capacity was a great improvement over the standard _Salamis Kai_ the '_Forrestal'_-type did suffer from reduced manoeuvrability because the reactors and engines had not been upgraded and were now driving a vessel with more mass than previously.

Keffer was fidgeting and not really liking the situation he was currently in. Leaning over to his long time friend and commanding officer Alexander Jellico he spoke. "Are you absolutely sure we have to do this here?"

"I know your feelings on this one James," said Alexander kindly. "But there's no other place we can do this without being disturbed by the Titans or regular Federation Forces."

"I'm just not ready to go back home," said James quietly. He stared out of the _Valiant's_ bridge at the approaching mass of debris known as the Shoal Zone. Born and raised at Colony 11 _Wothott_ in Side 5. James lost his entire family during the apocalyptic Battle of Loum, made even worse by being shot out of his Saberfish fighter and forced to watch the battle unfold while floating helplessly in space. James shuddered down to his core as colony debris drifted past the _Valiant's_ bridge.

"Captain we have now entered the Shoal Zone," said Hindly, the _Valiant's_ helmsman.

"All right deploy observers and slow to one third," Alexander's calm voice commanded. He couldn't help but notice James tensing up. Alexander understood this he had helped James over come the demons that haunted him after the Battle of Loum.

"Captain I've plotted us a course that will take use right to the heart of the debris field,"' said the _Valiant's_ navigator, Jameson, as he brought up a display version of the course. "We'll swing in round past the Garden of Thorns and come in from the left. This way we'll be covered by the densest area of debris that is stable enough for operations."

"Very well," said Alexander softly. He only vaguely noted a pair of crewmen being launched off the flight deck to act as observers; attached to the ship by only a thin lifeline they were now the best detectors available. A moment later one of the _Valiant's_ GM IIs was raised on the mobile suit lift from the hanger, if needed it would intercept any debris that might endanger the ship. Like a lot of the _Valiant's_ equipment the GM II was well used with various non-fatal bullet holes scattered over its body. "We'll take your course. Hindly go careful out there, we don't want to scratch the paint work."

"If you'll excuse me Captain I have somewhere to be," said James shakily as he started to leave before he even heard the reply.

"What's wrong Lieutenant? Not scared are you?" Ensign Aaron Terris sneered as he blocked the bridge hatch. Terris was a short young pilot who'd missed out on the One Year War. As with many short men he was desperate to prove himself, willing to pick fights with people he really shouldn't do. "Tell me you don't believe this place is haunted?"

"Out of my way Ensign," said James darkly. James found Terris to be an incredibly annoying person. The younger pilot's overly pugnacious attitude towards his own comrades and to the enemy really bothered James. Although he wouldn't admit it Terris reminded James too much of himself during the One Year War. "I don't have time to play games with the likes you."

"Well perhaps you should make time, Sir," demanded Aaron. "I want to know if we're being led into battle by a coward."

"You've got no right to speak to me like that!" roared James. He dashed forward and, while grabbing the younger officer's collar, forced him onto the bulkhead. "You're nothing! You hear me? When you've seen as much as I have then you can pass judgement."

"James! Stop it," commanded Alexander as he jumped off his command chair and put a hand on the older pilot's shoulder. "He isn't worth it and you know it."

James looked back at Alexander as he hesitated, contemplating what he should do. Both Hindly and Jameson had left their stations and were hovering nearby obviously ready to attempt and restrain him if the need arose, only once before had they needed to do that. Slowly he let go of Aaron but not before shoving the younger pilot off to one side. "I'll be in the hanger," he muttered as he kicked off the deck and floated off down the corridor, not bothering to use the guide rail.

Floating near aimlessly along the corridor James cursed himself for the lack of control he'd displayed. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ he thought _I've only just returned and already I've nearly beat the crap out of Terris. If this goes on I'll end up doing something stupid again._ He put out a hand to stop himself as he reached the end of the corridor and forced his feet onto the floor, letting the slightly magnetic soles of his boots to get a grip. Unexpectedly the elevator door opened before he pressed the call button. Standing in the lift was a rather rough looking Commander Kyle Walker, the _Valiant's_ executive officer. Grunting vaguely in James' direction the Commander slowly walked off towards the bridge. He turned to watch the haggard officer before entering the lift and pressing the button for the hanger deck.

Kyle Walker stepped onto the _Valiant's_ bridge in time to see the end of Alexander berating Aaron Terris over being a total idiot. Sighing gently he lifted himself onto the left hand side command chair. A quick scan of the crew stations in front of him revealed that everyone was in their place.

"I take it you didn't sleep well," said Alexander as he dropped down onto his own command chair. "You look like hell."

"Thank you for noticing Captain," Kyle croaked. He brought his hands up and rubbed his eyes. "Why is it that during this war all I seem to do is paperwork? I've was up half the night."

"Some poor bugger has got to do it," replied Alexander taking a sip of tea from the carton he had been given by a crewman. This was hardly his favourite way of drinking tea, but it wasn't practical for a tea pot and cups to be used in zero gravity. "And I delegated it too you."

"Delegation my arse," grunted Kyle taking a sip of his drink and munching into a sandwich. "You just don't like doing it, Sir."

"Don't worry Commander," said Alexander finishing his drink and standing up. "I'm sure this watch will be nice and quiet so you can rest up a bit."

* * *

_Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

Far across the decimated Side a lone pair of Titan ships, a blue-grey _Salamis Kai_ cruiser escorting a modified _Columbus_ transport, slipped unnoticed into the swirling mass of debris. Upon entering the debris field both ships slowed right down and deployed observers to help them navigate through the chaotic area.

On the bridge of the _Salamis Kai_, named the _Perseus_, Lieutenant Commander Franz Graser paced up and down. Not a happy man at the best of times Graser was thoroughly fed up with his current assignment. Captain Bask Om had personally assigned him to oversee the field testing of the Titan's latest prototype newtype mobile armour, an attempt to mass produce a unit used on Earth to fight Karaba, this irked Graser considerable since he loathed mobile suits and mobile armours. Franz Graser had been an ace fighter pilot even before the One Year War started; his treasured fighters were out classed by mobile suits and he became incredibly bitter towards them and those who piloted them. He could only surmise that he must have annoyed Captain Om in some manor and that this was one great joke, he didn't find it funny at all.

"How long until we reach the target area?" he barked at the ship's helmsman, his accent betraying his central European ancestry.

"Approximately six hours Lieutenant Commander," replied the helmsman. "It is difficult to navigate a debris field this intense."

Graser scowled, he wanted to get this down quickly. "Radar is there anything on the scopes? There could be AEUG lurking out there."

"It's nearly impossible to say Lieutenant Commander. There is so much scrap left over from the One Year War it's very hard to get an accurate fix on anything," replied the Radar operator. "I'll try my best but the debris is acting very erratically."

"Your best had better be good enough!" declared Lieutenant Commander Graser. "If we stumble into a trap you will be held personally responsible. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Lieutenant Commander," replied the Radar operator in a slightly worried tone. He had the distinct feeling that Lieutenant Commander Graser had no idea just how difficult it was to operate radar in this kind of environment. Never the less he kept his eyes glued to his screen in the hopes of picking up something. To his relief the scowling Lieutenant Commander's attention was dragged away by the latest arrival onto the bridge.

"Ah, Doctor Mooro," said the Lieutenant Commander dryly. "How long until iiti is ready to start the testing."

Doctor Mooro looked over his gold rimed spectacles at Lieutenant Commander Graser, contempt glistening in his eyes. "If Lieutenant Commander you refer to the Psyco Gundam test unit then it will require a further four hours of fine tuning," said the grey haired Doctor. "However if you were referring to Ensign Farris, he is ready to begin right now."

"_It_ had better be Doctor, I do not wish to hang around for your freak boy," snarled Lieutenant Commander Graser. If there was one thing that Graser hated more than mobile suits it was newtypes. Unlike many of his peers in the Titans he knew that newtypes were very real and very dangerous. He'd seen first hand just how dangerous they could be during the One Year War a few days after the Battle of Solomon his ship had been sunk by one of Zeon's freakish mobile armours. The idea that he now had to watch over the two things he hated the most really appalled him but orders were orders and had to be obeyed.

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

James drifted down the cramped hanger floor; he'd changed out of his uniform and into a pilot's normal suit. The hanger was a hive of activity as technicians and mechanics went about their work of maintaining the _Valiant's _mobile suit squad. A GM II was being raised up to the launch deck via the central elevator James mentally noted it had Ensign Frank Baylies' insignia on it.

"Hey Chief what are you doing?" asked James as he came up to where a group of mechanics were dismantling the backpack of Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Raynor's Nemo.

Bernard Scott, the _Valiant's_ head mechanic, nicknamed 'Chief', grinned. "We spotted a banged up GM Cannon II outside so I sent Baylies to go pick it up for us. If it's in good enough nick I thought we could take the cannons off it and mount them on this Nemo," Bernard Scott was a rough and ready sort that was from Scotland, charging off into his forties he showed no signs of slowing down. If anything the conflict with the Titans had brought him into his element, his skills of getting things to work no matter how battered they got was vital to the _Valiant_.

"Do you think they'll be compatible?" asked James slightly sceptical of the idea. "And now the heck do you plan to fit a GM Cannon II in here? We're already overloaded thanks to Terris' Nemo."

"So what if the parts aren't entirely compatible, my mallet will get them to work," declared Scott. "I only need the backpack anyway we can strip that off outside and just float the bits we need down the elevator. When I'm done we'll have a nice little fire support mobile suit. Heck I might even send the specs over to those dunderheads at Anaheim."

"Don't get carried away okay Chief," said James. He knew that once Scott had gotten an idea into his head there was no way of making him change his mind. "How is the Full Armour Gundam Mk II doing?" He cast his view down towards the corner of the hanger where the bulky bluey-grey mobile suit had been squeezed in. There wasn't actually enough room to move it without moving most of the other mobile suits in the hanger.

"That thing? Oh it'll work alright." said the Chief scornfully. "But I reckon we'll find tons of bugs in it. Always happens with prototypes, and I hear they rushed through this model."

"You know it is our job to find those bugs," said James leaning against a pile of crates. "That's what field testing is for."

"No lad, our job is to fight and kill the Titans," said Scott harshly. "It's their job to give us weapons that work with no problems."

"Let me just get this straight," said James. "That's not one of the Gundam Mk IIs the _Argama_ captured from Gryps right?"

"Like they'd let you have one of them," replied Scott with a short laugh, "When Anaheim got their hands on the Gundam Mk II's moveable frame they built a few testbeds of their own. Then the started a design process to improve the performance and firepower of the Mk II. Someone came up with the bright idea of building a full armour suit like they had in the last war. So they dusted off one of the mobile frame testbeds and built our very own Full Armour Gundam Mk II."

James sighed again. "Right you are then Chief," Kicking off the deck James floated over to where the _Valiant's_ oldest mobile suit was resting. It was a battered old GM Sniper Custom piloted by Lieutenant Marcus Cole. Cole had been one of the Federation's top snipers during the One Year War. James had lost touch with Cole after the war but the sniper reappeared with some timely assistance that saved the _Valiant_ from capture during the early weeks of the AEUG rebellion.

"Do you like the new toys Marcus?" called James up to where Marcus was working in the GMs cockpit.

Marcus stuck his head out of the cockpit and peered down at his commanding officer. He was a scruffy looking fellow, yet still managed to command an aura of respectability. "It's certainly interesting and a bit more powerful than the old rifle. I'd like to give it a test run though," The engineers at Anaheim had acquired a beam launcher which they enhanced with addition senor equipment. Declared to be a new style of sniper rifle it was shipped to the _Valiant_ to be tested properly. "Do you know where they got it from?"

"Not sure I heard Karaba nabbed it in a raid on a Titans supply base," said James. "I'll ring up to the bridge and get them to authorise you to go out on recon. You can give it a test while you're out there."

* * *

The _Valiant's_ mess hall was painted in an mustard yellow colour the exact reason behind this choice of colour was beyond Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Raynor, as he sat idly filling in a crossword puzzle in an old copy of the Granada Times. Off duty and with little else to do Jason, similarly with the rest of the crew, wasn't really in the best of moods. In the wake of the Titan's Operation Apollo and the news that the Federation Assembly had passed legislation to expand Titans power had broke not so long ago. Despite some of the early successes Jason was beginning to think this war was impossible to win. He sighed; he knew that if James ever caught him thinking like that the older officer probably would have beaten him up. Jason had known James for a few years now; they'd both joined the Titans a few months after its forming. 

The pair had been something of an oddity to start with since both of them were actually spacenoids. James' vast experience as a mobile suit test pilot ensured that he'd get in but Jason had had to lie about his place of birth and it was only his excellent marks that ensured he stayed in the Titans. The Titans started out a fairly decent organisation but they quickly changed their ways radically and James and Jason were shunted around until they ended up being attached to 56th Cruiser Squadron operating out of Luna II and to the _Valiant_ which was commanded by Captain Jellico and was also James old ship from the One Year War. They both heard about the Colony 30 incident at the same time. What made the matter even worse was that Colony 30 was Jason's home colony. That soul shattering discovery cause Jason to automatically quit the Titans and Federal Forces, it was the running joke that he and James were in the AEUG before the AEUG even existed.

Probably the only thing that kept Jason going was the fact that he knew he had nothing to go home to anymore. Other pilots, other crewmen they had families and loved ones waiting for them to come home. But now Jason his family was already dead, had no loved ones waiting for him. It seemed almost cliché but the only family he had was the crew of the _Valiant_ and he really wanted to know who the hell picked mustard yellow for the mess hall because it was really beginning to get on his nerves. Looking back down at his crossword he resolved to ask the captain whether or not they could get it repainted next time they were in port.

The relative quiet of the mess hall was shattered as a gaggle of the ship's female crew burst in and started to chat loudly about nothing particularly interesting. Not a very social animal Jason folded up his paper and got ready to leave.

"Lieutenant JG can we ask you something?" asked one of female crewmen. She and her fellows were clustered around a table in the middle of the room, right in between Jason and the door.

Trying not to look annoyed or uncomfortable Jason could only oblige. "What do you want to know Chief Petty Officer Larez?" Jason vaguely recognised her as one of the deck handlers who organised mobile suit ordinance. He also noted she seemed a little miffed by his formality.

"We were wondering if the rumours were true," asked Chief Petty Officer Larez. Her tone was serious, if a little scared. Jason's blank expression compelled her to continue. "You know Sir, about the Titans' giant mobile suit that attacked Hong Kong."

Jason paused before answering; he had heard the rumours and even discussed the issue with James. "It's true the Titans did build a giant mobile suit, but it was destroyed by a pilot off the _Argama_." Satisfied he'd given a suitable answer he started to leave again.

"You don't think there are more of them do you?" asked another one of the group.

"The chances of us running into one of those things out here are very slim," replied Jason confidently. "We're just here to let Lieutenant Keffer test out the new Gundam parts and have a rest. It'll be a breeze, so don't worry."

As he left Jason hoped he'd done a good job at reassuring them. He was unsure about the Titans giant mobile suit, he desperately want there to be only one and that it was on the Earth. However he knew that with the Titans just about anything could happen.

* * *

The acceleration effect from launching pushed Marcus Cole into his seat. Once clear he brought his GM Sniper Custom around in a lazy arch before snapping off a series of sharp turns ducking and diving through the debris field. The GM's original two tone blue paint scheme had long since been replaced by the greens used by the AEUG Nemos but some of the older scheme could be still be seen in placed where the new one had chipped and flaked off. 

As his GM continued on its erratic and unplanned course Marcus fiddled with one of the control panels in his cockpit. The GM Sniper Custom dated back to the One Year War but it had been fitted the new panoramic monitor-linear seat combo. The Sniper Custom should have been refitted to the standard of the GM IIs however Marcus had been stationed in a real backwater and the equipment was allowed to stagnate. Marcus didn't really like the panoramic monitor system it made him feels like weren't really in a mobile suit at all. In his opinion the old cockpit style was superior.

Marcus would have loved to spend hours just dancing around the debris field having a bit of fun, but that was not to be as he had a job to do and that was to test his new sniper rifle. While not technically a sniper rifle the beam launcher had been given improved sensor equipment and possessed both a long firing range and powerful punch. For the equipment hungry AEUG everything was a process of make do and mend.

Checking that he was far enough away from the _Valiant_ so as not to give her position away Marcus randomly picked a damaged Zaku II from the debris field. From the looks of the damaged it appeared that this particular Zaku II had been a bit too close to a Federal cruiser when it exploded. Giving the Zaku II a push to simulate a moving target Marcus dropped his GM off a little and took aim. He held the Zaku II in his sights for a few seconds before pulling the trigger. The beam shot out of the barrel and struck the Zaku II just off centre sending it spinning out of control before it smashed into a large chunk of ship debris. Marcus checked his cockpit readouts and noticed that the targeting software was off by two points. He manually made the changes and started looking for another target.

There was only one other Zaku II in his immediate area so Marcus sent his GM over to grab it. It wasn't until he closed in the on the Zaku II that he noticed something a little odd. "_Funny_." he thought. _"I don't remember Zakus ever having heads like that,"_ Taking in the Zakus strangely large, flat and round head extension it wasn't until after the mobile suit started firing its machine gun that he realised what it really was. "Shit! Eye-Zack!" he yelled desperately trying to manoeuvre his GM out of the way. A hail of bullets smacked into the GM Sniper penetrating the torso armour and damaging the left arm. In the cockpit the left side monitor exploded sending a shower of broken glass across the enclosed space.

In a snap shot Marcus fired the beam launcher, only vaguely aimed the beam missed by several meters and sliced its way through a derelict _Musai_. The EWAC Zack's pilot not exactly wanting to push his luck quickly turned about and shot away at full speed. The pilot showed great skill at managing to avoid the debris while travelling at such speeds. Finally bringing the GM back under control Marcus pulled the beam launcher about and tried to get a clear shot. The Eye-Zack was doing a good job of making itself a difficult target by dodging in and out of the debris. Not able to get a clean kill Marcus was forced to take a pot shot. The beam lanced out and a few seconds later there was an explosion, but Marcus never actually saw the beam hit so he couldn't be entirely sure whether or not he got the kill. Not that it mattered really; he was more concerned about the deep gash in his side that he'd received from a shard of glass. Clamping one of the totally inadequate dressings from his emergency med-kit to the wound he swung the GM Sniper II back around and headed towards the _Valiant_. He had to warn them. He had to notify them about the presence of Titans nearby.


	2. Chapter Two

_Titans transport Fyen, Shoal Zone, Side 4  
18th August UC 0087_

The EWAC Zack limped back to the _Perseus'_ location and it's pilot cursed the luck of the GM sniper, the last shot had severed the EWAC Zack's left leg although luckily the data recorders survived. However the loss of the leg was making the mobile suit more difficult to control. After a short while of debris dodging the EWAC Zack reached the _Perseus_ and her charge the modified _Columbus_ transport Fyen.

As the EWAC Zack came in the _Fyen's_ left hanger door opened and the guide beacon lights activated. Arrester netting had been set up to help the damaged mobile suit land safely. The pilot slowed his speed as much as he could but the mobile suit's momentum carried it forward through the first net and finally coming to a stop on the second set. The pilot sighed heavily to show his relief, quickly he shut down the mobile suit's systems and waited for the hanger crew to come and get him out.

By the time they cracked the seal on the cockpit the hanger doors had closed and the area filled with breathable atmosphere. Clambering out of the cockpit the pilot took off his pilot suits helmet. His name was Ken Grey and while fairly inexperienced at mobile suit combat piloting he'd got reasonable marks at the academy in Nijmegen. He graduated only a few months before the Delaz Fleet Crisis but missed all the action. That year produced some highly skilled pilots, most whom made their way to the Titans. Ken was never really a fan of intense mobile suit combat he preferred doing speedy reconnaissance missions. He took great pride in the fact that in virtually all training missions aggressor units had failed to find him or catch him thus it was very irksome that the GM Sniper Custom had stumbled onto him so easily. The EWAC Zack's leg could easily be repair but Ken's pride would take longer to heal.

"Ensign you better get clean up real fast," said one of the deck crew as Ken touched down on the floor. "The Lieutenant Commander wants to see you on the _Perseus_ ASAP."

"Thanks," replied Ken. He kicked off the deck and drifted over to the hatch which lead to the Fyen's pilot locker room. Ken sighed as he entered the locker room and started to strip off his pilot suit. He really didn't want to go and meet Lieutenant Commander Graser the old Lieutenant Commander was generally grumpy and downright hostile to all mobile suit pilots needlessly so in Ken's opinion. No doubt the Lieutenant Commander would want to grill him over the GM he had seen. It was almost certainly an AEUG mobile suit meaning they'd have a ship nearby; it didn't really bother Ken that much. He'd managed to get a sneak peek at the experimental mobile suit that was being stored in the Fyen's right hanger module. It was a monster and Ken was sure it could take on anything AEUG could throw at it. The only problem he could see with it was that some boy was meant to pilot it; rumour was that the boy was a newtype. Ken didn't believe all that newtype rubbish in his opinion the 'legendary' Amuro Ray was just lucky, nothing more.

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

Ensign Zarn Farris sat perfectly at a small desk in his dingy cabin confined within the bowels of the _Perseus_. Zarn was reading a leather bound book on the spine the faded gold leaf letters revealed it to be Henry V. Zarn found the tale to be terrible interesting, there were some very stirring speeches but the language was old and sometimes difficult to really understand, nevertheless he was enjoying it. He closed the book and then strapped it down in a container on the desk. Opening another container he took out a copy of the Titans Field manual, Zarn considered this to also be terrible interesting.

Zarn had been living at an Orphanage in southern Europe when the Titans recruitment unit had visited the town. They were looking for bitter young people who wanted to get their own back at the spacenoids. When Europe was ravaged by a Zeon unit during the One Year War it had created a lot of orphans who hated Zeon and these were just the kind of people the Titans were after. Zarn joined up despite only being fifteen years old at the time. He volunteered for the Titians sponsored cyber-newtype program in the hopes of becoming a great warrior to avenge his fellow Earthnoids.

There was a knock at the door and then a few seconds later it opened. Standing in the door frame was Doctor Mooro. Mooro was Zarn's keeper sent to keep an eye on him while the testing took place. "Come Zarn a cable transport will be ready soon to take us to the _Fyen_." said Doctor Mooro quietly. "One of the recon mobile suits encountered an enemy; soon you'll be able to use your power against the traitors."

"Yes Doctor," said Zarn. His voice was plain in tone, but his eyes betrayed a great sense of ferocity.

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

The mood onboard the _Valiant_ had become very tense over the last few hours. They'd been on alert since the moment Marcus' GM Sniper Custom touched down on the flight deck but so far nothing had happened. Commander Kyle Walker lamented on his situation, he was tired and grouchy and now he'd just had one of the ships best pilots shot up by some sneaky Titan. "What was it the Captain had said about this watch being nice and quiet?" he thought, his next words were aloud for the whole bridge to hear. "Do we have any idea where the buggers are?"

"Not really sir," replied Jameson. "There is so much debris floating around that it's hard to keep track on anything. It's why the Federal Forces ignored this place so much after the war. At times it's virtually impossible to navigate. Of course it does make a great hiding place if you're willing to take risks."

"Well everyone has to keep their eyes open at all times," said Walker. "I don't want the Titans to get close to us."

"I share your sentiments Commander," said Alexander Jellico as he came onto the bridge.

"Captain!" said Walker slightly surprised. "How is Lieutenant Cole?"

"He'll live, the Doctor says his injuries weren't that bad," replied the Captain as he sat down in his command seat. "I've ordered Lieutenant Keffer to send out a recon with our remaining mobile suits. I want to know where the Titans are, and attack them if necessary."

"Don't you think that might be a bit rash Sir?" said Commander Walker. "I mean weren't not exactly out here on a combat patrol."

"I have confidence in the abilities of this crew Commander," replied Jellico. "There's nothing the Titans can field which we can't take down."

* * *

James Keffer stood with his arms crossed looking over the _Valiant's_ mobile suit hanger; Chief Scott had finally been dragged away from messing around with Raynor's Nemo in order to hastily repair Marcus' GM Sniper Custom. James wasn't happy; he was down three mobile suits and had an unknown number of enemies lurking around. Worse still it was the three most experienced pilots who were out of action, Jason couldn't fly with his Nemo still in pieces, Marcus was still in the infirmary and his own FA Gundam Mk II wasn't combat ready. 

The rest of his mobile suit compliment was being prepped for launch. He was planning on sending them out on a recon-in-force mission; back during the last war he'd flown quite a few of them. He turned and left the hanger passing a pair of crewmen he made his way to the pilot's briefing room.

When he got there he noted that everyone was present, including Jason Raynor who was hanging around at the back. James was sure that Jason would be annoyed that he couldn't go on this mission.

"Okay listen up," said James clearly. "As you already know Lieutenant Cole ran into a Titan Eye-Zack while he was out testing the new beam launcher. While they do have a long range the distance to the nearest Titan base is too great, this means there must be a Titan ship nearby."

"Any idea what kind of ship?" asked Ensign Jean Chaput from the second row of seats his faint French accent played through the words.

"No we don't," said James reluctantly. "However all of the Titans _Alexandria_ class ships were accounted for in our last report from Command, none of them were in this region. Chances are it's a _Salamis_ Kai and we do know that one of its mobile suits is an Eye-Zack."

James pressed several buttons on the console in front of him which brought up a map of the region on the wall monitor behind him. "This is where the Eye-Zack was spotted," he pointed to the position; "It fled off in this direction;" he traced out the direction. "This is will be where you start the search."

"Our orders are a bit vague don't you think Lieutenant?" said Aaron Terris. "I mean we have no idea what we're up against and yet again you are refusing to go out."

"Yes Terris the orders are vague, but they generally are on recon missions it's also why four of you are going," snapped James. "You find the Titans, get back and then me and the captain will decide what to do, you got that?" Terris didn't answer. "Now Kullberg, you are getting a clay bazooka this mission, just in case you need something a little heavier than the GM II's beam rifles," Howard Kullberg nodded. "Right get going, wait a moment Terris."

The other four pilots filled out leaving just James, Jason and Terris in the briefing room.

"You've got more experience in combat than the others Terris," said James. "That means I putting you in command of this mission don't screw it up." Terris didn't rely he simply saluted and then quickly left.

"Am I taking a risk by giving him this command?" said James.

"Possibly," replied Jason Raynor who was still sitting at the back of the room. 'It might do some good for all of them to not have us sitting on their shoulders."

* * *

Ensign Aaron Terris smiled to himself. He was very pleased. Finally he had a chance to prove just how good a pilot and commander he was. In his opinion Lieutenant Keffer was overly cautious in everything he did, how could AEUG possibly win the war if they kept pussy-footing-it around all the time. They need firm and decisive action striking hard at the Titans and he was the man to get the Valiant back on track. 

Sitting in the cockpit of his Nemo he pulled down the visor of his pilot suit helmet then he began to start up sequence for the mobile suit. When all the check list items were green he set the suit in motion. Flipping a switch he set the mobile suit to pick up a beam rifle and shield from the storage rack. He was soon followed by the three other men in his team. In twos they mounted the elevator that went up to the launch deck. First to get locked onto the catapult was Aaron and waited his turn Jean Chaput in his GM II.

"Ensign Aaron Terris, Nemo, LAUNCHING!" he bellowed as the catapult accelerated him away from the deck of the Valiant. Chaput's GM II was launched when the catapult reset itself; he didn't say anything as his mobile suit was launched.

The next pair onto the catapult were Howard Kullberg and Frank Baylies, both piloting GM IIs. They both declared their names as they launched. Once clear they formed up with Terris and Chaput.

They set off into the debris field and the Valiant faded out of view. They flew in a rough V formation with Terris at the head; he was determined to be the first to engage the enemy, he was also being less then cautious in trying to keep his presence hidden.

"Okay team," he said over an open channel to the GM IIs. "Our mission is to find the Titans ship and engage it. We'll move in hard and fast, catching them with their pants down."

"Sir didn't Lieutenant Keffer tell us just to find the ship and then return?" asked Frank Baylies.

"Baylies who is in command here?" asked Terris harshly.

"You are Sir," replied Baylies meekly.

"Right that's what I thought," sneered Terris. "While I'm in command you'll do what I say. Keffer only gave us vague orders and I'm interpreting them however I like."

"Yes Sir," replied Baylies, less then convinced by Terris' orders.

They continued on in silence everyone but Terris was taking great care in trying not making themselves too visible. Baylies believe that Terris was doing it on purpose, trying to make the enemy see them. Hardly anyone on the _Valiant_ actually liked Terris, most put up with him, but there was just something about his extreme arrogance that piqued a lot of people.

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

The bridge of the _Perseus_ was relatively quite. A few hours had passed since the return of the EWAC Zack and Lieutenant Commander Graser has spent most of that time looking over the recordings made and debriefing the pilot. When the Lieutenant Commander skulked back onto the bridge; all the bridge crew immediately tensed up. It was clear that he was not in a good mood, yet again.

"L-Lieutenant Commander I may have something here," said the radar operator in an ever so slightly shaky voice.

"What?" barked Graser impatiently. "This better be good."

"Well sir it's a bit unclear but it appears that four objects are headed in this direction," said the radar operator. "Profiles suggest GM IIs."

"AEUG," said Graser as a grim smile appeared on his face. "Contact the _Fyen_ have them ready the Psyco Gundam Test Unit, it's going to have some live fire testing. Have our mobile suit team standby to support and get that EWAC Zack out there as well, I want to see this clearly."

* * *

Lieutenant Barry Hoges pushed violently off the wall to propel himself at great speed across the _Perseus'_ hanger. As he got closer to it he held out an arm and grabbed hold of one of the spikes on the shoulder armour. He swung around on it and floated down to the open cockpit. Painted on the cockpit door armour plate was his unit's insignia, a crosshairs on top of a target, they were the 'Sharpshooters' 185th MS Team. Once inside the cockpit Hoges began the start up sequences. The other two Sharpshooter pilots, Josh Renque and Yuri Vedrievich, were also starting up their mobile suits. 

"Josh, Yuri looks like a bunch of traitors is headed our way," said Hoges. "You both ready to show what we think of traitors?"

"Gotcha boss," replied Josh Renque. "We'll beat the crap out of them."

"We have to play second fiddle first," said Hoges. "That damned freak on the _Fyen_ has got first dibs."

"What the hell?" grunted Yuri. "Why is Graser letting that brat go in?"

"I don't know," replied Hoges, "but when the freak messes up we'll be there to pick up the pieces."

* * *

Zarn Farris was very happy finally he'd get a chance to kill some of the spacenoid menace. Before him stood the Psyco Gundam prototype mass production model, its main colour was military grey; much better than the originally planned ocean grey, with red trim. A quartet of different beam weapons were mounted in to the torso, two powerful beam guns were mounted on the forearms and the arsenal was topped off by the hyper beam sabres/beam cannons mounted on the knees. It was a very powerful beast, and it was all his to control. 

He kicked off the _Fyen's_ deck and drifted up to the cockpit opening, just beneath the Psyco Gundam's head. The cockpit sprang to life after he touched down in the seat, his black normal suit blending in with the seat. He could feel the Psyco Gundam's power as the _Fyen's_ hanger bay doors opened; the ship didn't have a catapult strong enough to launch the Psyco Gundam so Zarn pushed the thrusters to maximum to propel the might mobile suit forward.

At the same time Ken Grey launched in the _Fyen's_ spare EWAC Zack, for some bizarre reason of logistics the ship had been assigned two of them but only one pilot. Ken made sure to get plenty of good video footage of the Psyco Gundam speeding off. They were soon followed by the three Hizacks off the _Perseus_. The Psyco Gundam took the head of the formation, the three Hizacks followed leaving a bit of ground between them and then finally Ken brought up the rear his Gun-Camera firmly trained on the advancing units.

* * *

Frank Baylies only realised that the enemy was upon them when a great wave of mega particles vaporised a great swath of debris a few scant meters from his GM II. It was an immensely shocking sight to see huge chunks of colony debris being destroyed so easily and Frank had to force back the feeling of being sick. Seconds after the shot he could hear Terris yelling "Scatter!" over the radio. Instinctively he threw the control stick to the right, amazingly just as he did this another wave of mega particles cut through the area of space he'd just been in. 

Regaining his composure Frank sent his GM on a weaving course through the debris field trying to find out where the hell the blasts we coming from. Judging from the power of them it just had to be a cruiser, but they'd be able to see something that big.

Then he saw it, a grey mass charging through the debris field it didn't even try to avoid some of the smaller pieces, it just went straight through them. It was a giant mobile suit. "What a beast!" he exclaimed as the sent the GM downwards to try and evade. Then the beast fired again, not a coherent single beam but lots of smaller beams. Frank's GM was hit badly and he could slowly see everything going black.

* * *

Aaron Terris was cursing a lot. He couldn't believe the Titans had managed to get the first blow in. Sure he'd wanted to draw them out by giving away his position, but not like this. His escape course had taken him upwards and gave him an opportunity to spot the Titans beast before it trashed Baylies' mobile suit. He could also see a trio of lights approaching from the direction of where the beast had come from. Enraged due to the fact his first command was going so badly he charged off towards the three lights as fast as his Nemo could carry him. 

As he hurtled towards them noticed that they were Hizacks, he took aim with his beam rifle and fired four shots in quick succession. The first succeeded in striking one of the Hizack's backpacks causing it explode and send the Hizack spinning off in a spiral. The rest of the Hizack immediately dodged and all of Aaron's other shots missed. Aaron carried on through the formation and chased after the damaged Hizack. Not wanting to waste anymore beam rifle shots he switched over to a beam sabre. Drawing the weapon he activated it only briefly to cut a slice through the front torso, satisfied that the job was done he turned the Nemo around and headed off back towards where the beast was harassing the rest of his team.

* * *

Howard Kullberg's GM II was dancing its way through the debris field, desperately trying to shake off the beastly giant mobile suit that was chasing him. He was convinced that this had to be some sort of nightmare the fact he was being chased by a giant mobile suit seemed proof enough. He swung the GM around and fire two shots from his clay bazooka. The beast destroyed the first round by firing a forearm mounted beam gun; the second however got through and exploded against the chest armour. It soon became clear that only superficial damaged had been caused. 

The Psyco Gundam fired its forearm beam guns again but Howard managed to avoid them. In a daring move Howard turned and started to charge at the Psyco Gundam, holding his finger down on the trigger as he went he fired off all the remaining rounds in the bazooka and then changed over to firing the head Vulcan guns. Nothing phased the beast as it surged forward bring its knee up in the process, stopping just short of the torso for a moment Howard wonder what was going to happen. Suddenly a beam emerged from the end of the rod sticking out of the knee socket. Howard only saw a bright light before his cockpit was pierced by the hyper beam sabre.

Deactivating the beam sabre Zarn pushed the wrecked GM away. He was enjoying this a great deal, the battle had hardly started and already he had three kills.

"You bastard!" yelled Aaron as his Nemo charged in from the rear with his beam sabre out. The Psyco Gundam deftly avoided the blade. Sensing a chance for more fun Zarn released one of his hyper beam sabres and readied it.

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

The atmosphere on the _Valiant's_ bridge was very tense. Captain Jellico and Commander Walker were in their command chairs, Lieutenant Junior Grade Raynor was leaning against a back wall and Lieutenant Keffer was pacing up and down.

"Anything yet?" he asked for what must have been the twenty time.

"No sir," came the same reply from Mimi Couris the communications operator. They'd lost both radio and radar contact with the recon team, not usually something to worry about considering the type of mission but James had a very bad feeling brewing in his stomach. The bright flashes off in the distance not so long ago hadn't helped things at all.

"I don't like this," he declared. "Not at all. I'm going out there. I'm gonna get them back."

"In what exactly Lieutenant?" asked Walker. "You don't have a mobile suit."

"I'll take the FA Gundam Mk II," he said with conviction. "Sure it hasn't been combat tested, but this is as good an opportunity as any other."

"It hasn't even been tested in non-combat situations," barked Walker. "How can you contemplate taking it out?"

"Settle down Commander," said Alexander sagely. "James you be careful okay, I don't want to have attend your funeral again."

James nodded and then dashed off the bridge and down to the hanger. He grabbed a helmet off the rack and floated over to the Full Armour Gundam Mk II.

"Hey Lieutenant what are you doing?" asked Chief Scott from the deck below.

"I need to get out there and help the patrol, they've run into trouble," he called down. "Is the beam cannon ready?"

"Well yes but the thing hasn't been tested!" called the Chief with great alarm. "Does the Captain know about this?"

"Of course," said James getting into the cockpit. He ignored the start up sequence and went for a cold start. The cockpit burst into life and he quickly set the mobile suit on its way.

Just before the FA Gundam Mk II was catapulted out into space James yelled "James Keffer, Full Armour Gundam Mk II, launching!"

* * *

The Psyco Gundam swung a wide sweeping stroke with the hyper beam sabre that Aaron barely managed to parry. He jetted backwards to avoid another swipe, the enemies beam sabre was far more powerful than his own and was quite easily over powering it. He tried to dart in with a lung but the bigger mobile suit managed to avoid it easily. 

Aaron cursed again, how could such a big mobile suit be so manoeuvrable? It was impossible. He tried another thrust but yet again the enemy dodged. As he kept it busy Aaron noticed that the only other GM II was sneaking up behind the Beast.

Jean Chaput was pretty pissed off with his enemy; it'd killed all of his friends with ease. Sure he was French and his people had spent a lot of time surrendering to enemies, but he was not going to do that. He was going to make this enemy pay for what it had done, so what if it was at least ten meters taller than his own mobile suit and bristling with enough firepower to sink a small battle fleet.

While Jean was off on his mental tirade he failed to notice that the Beastly mobile suit had positioned itself to aim it's free arm's beam gun at him. Zarn only needed to fire one shot but he fired three just for the hell of it. He enjoyed watching mobile suits explode.

Aaron looked on in horror, he'd just realised this enemy was toying with him. He could have been killed at any moment, the pilot of that beast must be enjoying watching him try all his best moves and come up nought.

Desperate not to partake in the same fate he started to repeatedly fire his beam rifle. Although several of the shots hit they were so weak that they failed to do any real damaged. Seemingly content Zarn took one swipe and sliced the Nemo in half. Despite the fact the two body parts were falling away from each other the electrical shock caused the beam rifle to keep firing, even through the cockpit had been destroyed.

* * *

James arrived on the battle field just in time to see Aaron being sliced up. He was shocked, not by the carnage but by what was causing it. It had more than a passing resemblance to the giant mobile suit that attacked Hong Kong, he'd read the report that had gone out to ship captains warning them to keep a look out for this type of mobile suit. 

The Full Armour Gundam Mk II was a bulky piece of machinery, but somehow managed to retain some degree of manoeuvrability. He dashed forward towards the giant mobile suit and fired the 2-barreld beam cannon mounted on the right arm twice. Both blasts hit home and finally an attack actually did some serious damage. There was a smaller explosion from the backpack and arcs of electricity shot out. He fired again but the Psyco Gundam moved sluggishly and the shot hit the right elbow, disabling the arm.

The Psyco Gundam swung around and fired off a blast from its main beam cannon, luckily James managed to avoid it. Suddenly off in the distance a series of flares launched from the Titians ship lit up space, they were retreat flares. Zarn swore loudly but duly turned the Psyco Gundam around and headed back to the ships.

James breathed a sigh of relief that the beast was gone. He surveyed the battlefield; all he could see was wreckage from what had been his mobile suit team. Then suddenly he heard a very weak tapping sound over the radio. He quickly triangulated where it was coming from and headed off in that direction.

What he found was a very badly damaged GM II, the scared insignia showed it to be Frank Baylies'. It was missing a head, the right arm, the left hand and both its legs. James grabbed hold of the GM II and started to haul it back to the _Valiant_ things were bad, very bad.


	3. Chapter Three

_AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4  
18th August UC 0087_

The _Valiant's_ pilot's locker room had become a very quite place. It was with great sadness that James removed four name plates from four lockers, there wasn't enough time to clear them out properly that would have to be done when they made it back to port. While no stranger to loosing pilots in battle it still had an effect on James, the list of friends he'd lost was just too long. Anger welled up inside of him, clenching up a fist he punched the wall once before letting his arm drop. "I hate this job," he declared bitterly to the empty room.

There was a knock at the door and James turned to see Jason Raynor standing in the doorway. The younger pilot was wearing one of the AEUG standardised yellow pilot normal suits. "Lieutenant, Chief Scott wants us down in the hanger, he says we need to go over the mobile suits before we get into another battle," said Raynor.

"Okay," said James after a heavy sigh. "I'll be along in a moment." Raynor nodded and then left. James floated over to his own locker and dragged out his red and white normal suit; it was a bit old but served him well.

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

Lieutenant Commander Graser was a very happy man; his bane had actually managed to do something significant. He'd watched the recording of the battle several times now despite his hatred of mobile suits he couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer power displayed by the Psyco Gundam prototype mass production model. He was sure that if these weapons were mass produced that the traitors would be completely wiped out and that the Earth would be able to exert the right level of control over the spacenoids. Even now his wall monitor was still showing the recording.

"Doctor how long will it take to repair the Psyco Gundam?" Graser asked the other man in his office.

"I can not say at the moment Lieutenant Commander," replied the Doctor, "The Psyco Gundam took damage to its power distribution controls, shoddy repair work there could prove most costly."

Doctor Mooro took off his glasses and cleaned them will a piece of cloth from his pocket, putting his glasses back on he looked around the Lieutenant Commander's office. Few words can accurately describe the interior of a _Salamis Kai _but spacious defiantly wasn't one of them; however Lieutenant Commander Graser's office was so spartan that it did feel quite roomy. Mooro could only see three personal items in the whole room and they were three pictures on the wall behind Graser. The first picture was of a _Sabrefish_ space fighter in pristine condition, specifically Graser's _Sabrefish_ from before the One Year War. The second picture was of a much younger Graser along with, who Mooro assumed to be, the other pilots in his fighter squadron; it was dated 01/01/0079. The last picture Mooro found quite strange it was of a space fighter hanger that was empty except for one heavily damaged _Sabrefish_, this picture bore a date 18/01/0079.

"When this weapon system is complete we will crush the AEUG once and for all!" said Graser. "Then maybe I'll be able to get out of this hellhole of a Side and back to a decent command."

Mooro smiled for the first time during this meeting. "Don't you find it funny Lieutenant Commander that your ticket out of here will be brought to you by a newtype piloting a mobile suit," the Doctor said abruptly. "Two things you hate are they not?"

Graser stared at the Doctor for a moment. "Keep your tongue in check Doctor," he replied, "It's all too easy to have accidents out here. I suggest you go and make sure those repairs are completed promptly."

Doctor Mooro considered a sharp reply but then decided against it, despite being a bitter little man Graser was still in command of his mission and had to be kept happy at least until they made it back to Gryps II. "Very well Lieutenant Commander I shall see to your request," Mooro stood and straightened his uniform slightly and then left the room.

* * *

The two surviving members of the Titans 185th MS team were less than happy with the current situation. Not only had they been upstaged by the newtype brat they had lost their leader, Lieutenant Barry Hoges, to an arrogant lone Nemo. Josh Renque was red-faced with anger as he'd just found a group of the _Perseus'_ crew watching the video of Hoges' death, as recorded by Ken Grey the recon pilot, the lowly crewmen had been mocking the 185th and Hoges about how easily they were beaten. 

"I can't believe this!" raged Renque as he paced up and down the pilots lounge. "How could this have happened?"

"Calm down Josh," placated Yuri Vedrievich. "Going off on one won't help at all."

"How can I calm down!" spat Renque. "We've been humiliated!"

"You worry too much," retorted Vedrievich. He leaned back against the bulk head and slipped his cap down over his eyes. "We lost a man, so what? It happened all the time during the War. You get used to it."

Renque span round and stared at the older pilot. "I can't believe you!" he yelled before storming out of the lounge.

After Reque had left Yuri pushed his cap up slightly. "He's still green," he commented. Yuri dropped his cap down again. He was an old soldier and the loss of a comrade didn't really bother him anymore, during the One Year War he'd been a Ball pilot.

_

* * *

Titans transport Fyen, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

The mechanics were clustered around a small table stationed between the enormous legs of the Psyco Gundam prototype mass production model. Doctor Mooro directed the mechanics as to how to properly repair the Psyco Gundam.

Zarn Farris stood, still clad in his pilot's suit, on an upper access way looking out across the _Fyen's_ hanger. Adrenaline was still pumping through his veins he longed to be back out there fighting the AEUG. His face contorted up in confusion he didn't understand what Graser was so afraid of; the AEUG had already taken a huge blow one more strike would have finished them off.

"You're the pilot of that thing aren't you?" Zarn turn round to see who'd spoken the words; it was the pilot of the recon mobile suits. Zarn nodded and turned his head back to watch the workers around his Gundam.

"You should be careful with that thing," continued the recon pilot. "It's dangerous."

"It is a mobile suit designed for war. Of course it is dangerous, that is its purpose," replied Zarn dryly. Zarn was shocked when the older pilot grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him against the wall.

"I mean for you," declared Ken Grey sternly. "I saw how you fought, that thing is evil. Don't let it suck you in, there's no point in wasting your life."

Zarn shrugged off Grey's grasp. "Why are you so interested in my life?" asked Zarn sharply.

"Kids like you shouldn't be fighting in a messed up wars like this," said Ken slowly. "You should be back home getting a proper education, rather than learning how to fight and hate like you do here."

"Thanks to the spacenoid trash the only home I have is the Titans," snarled Zarn fiercely. "No one can stop me from fighting to defend my home."

"Look kid I'm just trying to do you a favour," Ken snapped back. "Go throw your life away for all I care."

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

James Keffer swam across the _Valiant's_ hanger to where Chief Scott was standing next to the Full Armour Gundam Mark II. "How's it looking Chief?"

"Not bad," was the reply. Chief Scott put down the clipboard he'd been reading. "She flew well didn't she?"

"For something so bulky I was surprised at how manoeuvrable it was," said James. "I still don't get why Anaheim built it. I mean beam rifles pretty much make the concept of "full armour" obsolete."

"Let them spend their money how they want to," said Chief Scott. "Like I said before this baby came out of the plan to improve the Gundam Mark II, I understand the Argama got a sort of backpack upgrade with a big beam cannon."

"They always get the best kit," complained James. "We just get the junky rejects."

"What do you expect," retorted Scott. "It is the flagship after all. We just have to make do with what we've got. It's a nice machine even if it was scratch built. Anaheim might be wasteful with its resources sometimes but they are never going to let you pilot a true Gundam Mark II."

"Has Jason been getting used to his new 'Nemo Cannon'?" asked James as he turned to face the kitbashed mobile suit standing in the next scaffold over.

"He's getting there. Give him a little longer and he'll have it mastered," said the engineer. "Oh by the way Marcus is up and about now, he sure does recover fast that one. His GM Sniper is up and running again as well."

"So we've got just three mobile suits to take down that monster?" James asked to the air in general. "It should be nice and fun."

"I'm sure you'll come up with a plan," commented the older mechanic. "You usually do."

James stared at the bulky mobile suit before him. He could certainly think of several plans right now. However, when he ran the scenarios through his mind, they rarely resulted in a satisfactory out come. He considered a reply that included the phrase "hmmm tricky" but he then decided that 'tricky' wasn't a good enough word to describe the current situation so he remained silent.

After what seemed like an hour or two James broke the silence. "The beam cannons on the Nemo. Are they as powerful as they were on the GM?" James got his answer in the mechanics simple nod. He took a sheet of paper off Scott's clipboard and fished a pencil out of a pocket. "Thanks for the help Chief."

Scott watched as the pilot pushed off the deck and floated up to one of the exits to the hanger. Once James had left Scott shook his head and turned round to face the Gundam again he checked the clipboard and then started shouting at some of his crew who weren't working fast enough.

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4  
19th August UC 0087_

The four remaining Titan pilots milled around in the Perseus' briefing room. Zarn Farris and Doctor Mooro sat rigidly in the front row of seats, the Doctor was deeply engrossed a large mass of print outs while Zarn stared fixedly at the Side map on the main monitor.

Renque and Vedrievich were huddled in the middle of the room locked in deep conversation; the two Sharpshooters were debating the best way to, as Renque put it, "restore their honour". Yuri was less than convinced.

"Look you don't need to worry about all that honour crap," he declared gruffly. "It's not worth all the effort."

"How can you say that?" exclaimed Josh. "We have to prove ourselves now, prove that we're just as good at that freak!" He pointed a finger at the back of Zarn's head.

"Why exactly must we do that?" asked Yuri. "So what if he's a newtype and is just better than us? I had my arse saved by one back during the war, fine bunch of people if you ask me."

"And you call yourself a Titan," snarled Renque. "Newtypes don't exist, that's just spacenoid propaganda. All that thing is, is a freak."

Yuri was sure the younger pilot would have carried on ranting were it not for Lieutenant Commander Graser waltzing into the briefing room carrying a clipboard under one arm.

"Gentlemen yesterdays action has brought us great success," began the commanding officer. "Success; which we must build on today. Our analysts predict that the traitors are on their last legs, one strike will knock them down and we will have acquired ourselves a nice prize to take back to Gryps II."

"It is true that the AEUG have a powerful mobile suit left, but we have the Pscyo Gundam and it is more than powerful enough to destroy anything they can field," continued Graser. "For the next mission all our remaining mobile suits will launch, Ensign Grey will join the Sharpshooters for this mission."

Ken Grey instantly stood to attention. "Sir, with all due respect sir my EWAC Zack is not designed for mobile suit combat I would only be a hindrance to my fellow pilots."

"Are you refusing to fight?" asked Graser, venom dripped from every word.

"No sir. I'm merely pointing out that my unit will not be able to operate to the same level as the Hizacks," said Grey smoothly without even batting an eyelid.

"Your objection has been noted Ensign but you will continue the mission as planned," said Graser sharply. "The Sharpshooters will provide the Psyco Gundam with an escort until the battle is joined. You will then create a perimeter and prevent the AEUG escaping while the Psyco Gundam will close and destroy their warships."

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

James Keffer had just received permission to use his plan after a length discussion with Captain Jellico. He saluted and then started to walk towards the door to Jellico's office when he stopped and turn to look back at his old friend.

"You knew didn't you?"

"Knew what?" asked the captain.

"You knew that thing was going to be here in the Shoal Zone," replied James, "It's the only explanation for my Rick Dias being replaced with the Full Armour Gundam Mk II and for Anaheim insisting we take an extra Nemo along." He starred down his commanding officer; there was fury in the former fighter pilot's eyes.

"There had been intelligence reports that suggested the possibility," said Jellico finally.

"Damn it Alexander you should have told me! I could have planned for it, I could have prevented the deaths of three of my men!" yelled James. He walked up to the captain's desk and hammered his fist down onto it. "Don't you trust me? Haven't I gained your trust yet after all these years?"

"We didn't know for sure if it was actually here or not," replied Jellico. He was trying to stay calm despite Keffer's outburst. "It was felt that it would be better not to worry the crew when there was a good chance that nothing would happen."

"That's why you let Cole go out and test the beam launcher," said James. "You wanted him to stumble onto the Titans, but it didn't quite go to plan did it? Then there's Chief's Nemo 'Cannon' I guess you thought we didn't have enough firepower?"

Jellico nodded gravely. "I didn't want it to be this way James, I'm sorry."

"It's a bit late to start apologising Captain," said James bitterly. "If you'll excuse me I have a beast to slay." James marched to the door and exited.

Alexander Jellico stared at the closed door to his office. Alexander leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes he was tired, they all were tired. Running now wouldn't be good for the crews moral; they were hurting from a whole string of losses the AEUG had been suffering. A victory was something they sorely needed, even if the risk was great. James, as ever, had a plan; the only problem Alexander could see with it was the fact that the _Valiant_ was the bait for the trap.

Nether the less he'd approved the plan. There was little he could do anymore really except going along with the pilots suggestions. Alexander was in over his head he knew little about mobile suits except that they were lethal to warships. He'd become a captain during the One Year War and fought through the bloodiest battles of the opening campaigns. He knew how ships fought ships and was good at it but he was really at a loss when mobile suits were involved. Alexander would freely admit that if it hadn't been for James he'd have been killed long ago.

* * *

Fastening the last few clasps on his pilots suit James Keffer kicked off from the gantry over to the open cockpit of his Full Armour Gundam Mark II. The left shoulder armour pad had James' crest, a stylised white coloured Panther head on a hexagonal black background, painted on as he floated past it he patted it for good luck. Reaching the open cockpit he swung himself in legs first and settled himself in to the linear command chair. James dropped into the linear seat and started up the mobile suit letting the monitor blink into life, he was surrounded by visions of the hanger. The heavy armour plating dropped down and locked into place around the cockpit hatch. 

He hit a switch on his control panel and opened the squadron communication channel. "You two got the plan straight?"

"No problem here," said Marcus Cole slowly; he was still a little sore. "All ready for revenge."

"It's a plan worthy of the White Panther," spoke Jason Raynor from his Nemo "Cannon". "Let's show these Titans how Earth's real heroes fight."

"You're not a hero yet kid," joked Marcus. "Looks like it'll have to be me and the Lieutenant to sort this one out."

"Cut the chatter," commanded James. "We've got a job to do. Grab a hunk of debris and hide, just make sure they don't see you. If we mess this up the Captain will not be pleased."

The Full Armour Gundam Mark II stepped out of the frame that held it in place. The Gundam walked over to the central mobile suit elevator and was soon joined by Cole's GM Sniper Custom. The elevator brought the two mobile suits up to the catapult deck; James' Gundam clunked its way onto the catapult first. The elevator descended back down into the bowels of the ship and Jason's Nemo was soon waiting for get onto a free catapult.

The Full Armour Gundam was the first to be flung out into space as soon as the catapult reset itself the GM Sniper Custom clambered onto it. Eventually Cole and Raynor were able to join Keffer and take up their positions.

* * *

The Titans mobile suits charged their way through the debris field closing in on the approximate location of the AEUG force. Ken Grey checked his equipment one more time he'd been given a 120 mm machinegun, normally used by Hizacks, and a couple of spare ammunition drums. He was somewhat worried about the coming battle; the EWAC Zack wasn't the most heavily armoured mobile suit. He was going to have to rely on his piloting ability to keep himself out of danger. 

Ken noted that the Psyco Gundam was slowly edging its way ahead of the accompanying mobile suit escort. He had no doubt that Zarn was itching to get back at the Gundam which had forced him to withdraw. A flashing light on his console indicated that his suits advanced sensor suite was picking something up among the debris. The EWAC Zacks computer trundled through all the possibilities before confirming it was a warship but failing to identify the class. Ken rocked the suit over to the nearest Hizack in order to commence skin to skin communications.

"Ensign Vedrievich, I'm picking up the AEUG vessel.' he reported. "It doesn't match any of the files on record. Also it either hasn't picked us up yet or have any escorts."

"Good work Grey," replied Yuri. "Looks like the Newtype already knows about it," The Psyco Gundam was establishing a considerable lead. "Pull around onto the left flank and cover Farris."

"Yes sir," answered Ken. He then pulled the EWAC Zack away and carefully positioned himself to going into a long flanking movement.

* * *

The GM Sniper Custom's beam launcher rested upon a shattered segment of colony debris. The debris looked as if it had once been an external cargo bay door, it was jammed half open and the GM hid within its dark enfold. Marcus Cole watched the approaching Titan mobile suits he wasn't surprised to see the Hizacks escorting the monstrous grey mobile suit, at the moment they weren't really important. What was important was making sure the plan went a head correctly and the trap being sprung. He checked the alignment of the beam launcher again, just to be sure. 

Far across the debris field Jason Raynor was also checking his alignment. It was harder for him to hide his kit bashed Nemo Cannon but he'd managed so far. He was waiting, waiting for the right moment to help spring the trap his finger hovered over the beam cannon trigger.

* * *

Zarn was willing the Psyco Gundam to faster. It was hurtling through the debris field and he'd long since left his escorts behind, now it was time for his battle and his glory. In the distance he could see the AEUG cruiser; trying unsuccessfully to hide from him, all his thoughts were fixed on the cruiser. As he closed the distance he selected the Psyco Gundam's main armament the large mega particle cannon built into its chest. 

When he reached the effective firing range he let rip with a massive beam that leapt from the cannon and raced towards its target. The cruiser slowly tried to evade and was lucky as the beam sheared through the port side single barrel main gun. Zarn cursed and brought the Psyco Gundam in closer.

Then he sensed it far too late to effectively counter it. It felt as thought beams were coming at him from all directions and he couldn't dodge them all. Before he knew it he'd lost most of the Psyco Gundam's right leg and the left shoulder was disabled.

* * *

James sent the Full Armour Gundam Mark II rocketing down from directly above the Psyco Gundam. His first volley of beams had struck the monsters left shoulder but failed to destroy it. He fired again and again but the element of surprise was gone and his enemy was able to avoid it. He watched the Psyco Gundam bring up its good arm and fire the beam gun mounted on it. He dodged the beams and also saw Marcus and Jason close in, adding their own fire to the swarm around the Titan mobile suit. 

James fired his beam cannon again. This time he got a lucky shot and his blast sliced down the side of the Psyco Gundam's head severely damaging it and the thrusters array on the mobile suits back. Unfortunately James was unable to dodge his opponent's counterattack, a beam from the remaining knee mounted beam cannon smashed its way through the Full Armour Gundam Mark II's right arm destroying the 2-barrel beam cannon.

He swore loudly and closed in on the giant mobile suit. He dropped own in front of it, raised his Gundam's left arm and fired off a barrage from the wrist mounted grenade launchers into the bigger Gundams crest, damaging the mega particle cannon built into it.

* * *

Zarn screamed with rage, he was being beaten by pathetic oldtypes! Half the monitors in his cockpit were damaged and those which remained were fading in and out of clarity. He wrestled with the controls but they were slow and unresponsive. All he could do was fire a few random shots with what little of his armoury was left. 

The monitors cleared up just enough for him to see the Full Armour Gundam Mark II jab a beam sabre into a part of the Psyco Gundams torso. Zarn released a series of swear words in various European languages. The screens went blank and Zarn was left in the dark, tears began to roll from his eyes, they weren't tears of sorrow they were tears of rage. He was being humiliated again, the Lieutenant Commander would hate him again and Doctor Mooro would punish him. A few of the screens jerked back into life and Zarn looked up to see the AEUG cruiser bearing down on his stricken mobile suit. He felt a shiver of fear down his back as he saw the cruiser rolling and main guns start to glow as mega particles began to rush down the barrels. There was only one thing he could do; he triggered the ejection sequence that sent the sphere of his cockpit rocketing away from the mobile suit.

* * *

Alexander smiled grimly on the bridge of the _Valiant_ as his main guns fired at the Psyco Gundam. The mighty beams sliced the giant mobile suit in half. They only had to wait a few moments before the Psyco Gundam prototype mass production model's reactor exploded, shredding what was left of the monstrous mobile suit. Now all that was left was the small matter of the Hizack team that had accompanied the Psyco Gundam.

* * *

Josh Renque could hardly believe what he'd just witnessed. The mighty Psyco Gundam reduced to scrap metal in barely any time at all. It had suddenly dawned on him that they weren't any old AEUG mobile suit team; these guys were veterans and damned good ones. 

The thought of having to take on veterans did faze him for a little while but then his own arrogance overrode any sensibly thoughts. He pushed the Hizack's thrusters to maximum intent on finished off the damaged Gundam prototype. However was stopped long before he could even get close by what his console identified as a GM Sniper Custom.

The old mobile suit fired the beam launcher it was carrying. Josh managed to avoid it but he was distracted long enough to let the GM to close in. The GM brandished a beam sabre and hacked at the Hizack, slicing off the right arm and leg.

Two bursts of machinegun fire from either side of Josh's Hizack caused the GM back off behind some debris. Josh looked around desperately to see Yuri's Hizack and Ken's EWAC Zack rush in and grab his damaged Hizack and started to drag him away from the battle and back to their cruiser. Josh also noted that Yuri was carrying a damaged escape pod.

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

As soon as the Valiant had recovered her mobile suits; the heavy cruiser started to weave her way through the Shoal Zone and back towards Lunar. In his office Alexander sat in his chair slowly drinking tea from a carton. He looked at James Keffer, who sat opposite him.

"You know I've got a feeling that Anaheim Electronics aren't going to like you," he said softly.

"What do you mean?" asked James bemused. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"You went and broke one of their prototypes," answered Alexander. "I bet they take it out of your wages."

"We get paid?" James joked. "Well it can't be much worse than you; you broke a '_Forrestal'_-type _Salamis_ heavy cruiser. That can't be cheap."

"Let's just call it even," said Alexander as he smiled. "I sure we even out over the long run. Sooner we get out of this Side the better I can't stand it, no offence like."

"For once captain that is something we can agree on," replied James happily, "I can't stand it either."

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Perseus, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

The Titans cruiser _Perseus_ left the Shoal Zone and set course for Gryps, it was followed by the transport _Fyen_. The mood on the bridge was unusually subdued. Lieutenant Commander Graser hadn't really spoken much since the return of the Sharpshooters with the news of the Psyco Gundam's defeat.

The hatch at the back of the bridge slid open and Ken Gray stepped onto the sombre command deck. He had just completed compiling the data acquired during the final fateful battle. He suspected that Graser wouldn't really want to receive something like this now; however Ken knew that there were still procedures to follow even after a defeat.

He had detected some interesting markings on the AEUG Gundam. A little bit of research through the library files of the One Year War had brought up a surprising revelation.

"Sir while going through the data records of the last battle I found something I thought you might be interested in," said Gray.

"What could I possibly find interesting from that fiasco?" asked Graser bitterly.

"Well sir I found this," he handed Graser a photo print out of the insignia from the Gundam, "I believe the White Panther was a former subordinate of yours sir." Ken took great pleasure in seeing Graser's eyes nearly pop out of his head at the mention of that nickname.

"Keffer?" Graser's blood boiled with rage, "That insubordinate spacenoid bastard! Is he trying to ruin me again! If I ever get my hands on him I'll kill him!" raged the Titans officer.

'Lieutenant Commander Graser we're receiving a signal from Captain Om.' reported the communications officer. "He wishes to hear of our testing on the Psyco Gundam."

Everyone who could get away with it was looking at Lieutenant Commander Graser, he'd gotten quite pale upon hearing it was Captain Om.

"Very well," said the Lieutenant Commander as he recovered slightly. "I shall take it in my office." The Lieutenant Commander stood and stalked off the bridge.

An unusual number of crewmen found time to walk past Graser's office; they heard a great deal of shouting.

_

* * *

Titans transport Fyen, Shoal Zone, Side 4_

Doctor Mooro stood looking over Zarn's prone body. The child hadn't been badly injured when he escaped from the Psyco Gundam mass production test type. While the Psyco Gundam test type had been destroyed the mission hadn't been a total write off; he had managed to gather a great deal of data on both Zarn and the Psyco Gundam. He suspected that it would take a while to process all the findings and then present the information to the relevant Titans authorities. Perhaps once that was done they would allow him to finish building the remaining two Psyco Gundam mass production test type units.


	4. Chapter Four

Okay I bet you're all wondering what's going on here. How can Mirai be posting a new chapter when the story finished in chapter 3? Well its simple really I've decided to carry on with _The Beast_ and including its sequel creating one medium sized fic rather than two separate small fics. Whether this will turn out to be a good idea or not I haven't a clue but it should be fun finding out

_AEUG 'Forrestal'-type Salamis heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit  
20th August UC 0087_

Captain Alexander Jellico found the total lack of new information from the AEUG's command centre in Granada very depressing. As far as he knew the Titans still held Von Braun and, despite the presence of both the _Argama_ and _Radish_ in the area, it didn't look like they could be removed by force. The idea of assaulting the Lunar metropolis was repulsive at best and down right horrifying at worst. Alexander knew that any attack the AEUG tried would result in countless civilian casualties, which was exactly what the Titans wanted. Trying to make the AEUG look like the villains was probably their only chance to swing the opinion of the colonies in their favour. Alexander didn't believe that this strategy would actually work; the Titans had built up such a bad reputation over the years that they were unredeemable.

The sound of the hatch to the bridge opening caused Alexander to look up from the status report he'd been idly reading. He peered around his command chair to see the scruffy looking brown haired Lieutenant James Keffer float onto the bridge.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant," said Alexander, "How's Ensign Baylies?"

"He's stable but there's not much more the Doc can do for him here," replied James as he floated to a stop next to the captain's command chair. "The chances of him being able to pilot again are slim."

"That's a real shame," said Alexander with sadness in his voice, "We need good pilots like him, now more than ever."

"Nothing new from Von Braun?" asked the mobile suit pilot.

Alexander simply shrugged. "I haven't heard anything; neither Granada nor Amman nor Von Braun is responding to my messages," replied Alexander. "I sent some men to check our equipment but I don't remember it being reported as damaged."

"I guess we'll just have to ask around when we reach Amman," said James. He cast his gaze over the myriad of wall mounted monitors that filled the wall space either side of the command chair. "Any sign of the Titans?"

"Again nothing," replied the captain with a dejected tone in his voice. "You'd think there would be more ships about but its ghostly quiet out there."

"I'd rather we not run into any enemies right now Captain," said James in an equally dejected tone. "The Full Armour Gundam Mk II isn't combat worthy since it's only got one arm. Baylies GM II is trashed beyond our ability to repair it, not that it's really worth repairing anyway. So that leaves just Lieutenant Cole's Sniper Custom and Ensign Raynor's improvised Nemo Cannon. A determined enemy attack will sink us in no time at all."

"Well you're nice and cheery today aren't you," commented Alexander, "Don't worry nothing will happen." He suddenly felt very tired and longed for the relative safety of the Lunar city Amman.

"The last time you said that we had that beastly thing turn up a day later," replied James with a half smile on his face. "I think you're turning into a jinx Sir."

"Me a jinx? Surely not," laughed the captain. "I'll have you know I'm the focal point for a zone of pure luck. I've never been bested in a major battle; from British to Stardust."

"Yeah but you were bested in a minor battle which resulted in the _Valiant_ being trashed," sniped James. "Although that little cock-up did result in our lovely new refitted _Valiant_."

"Oh come now James there was extenuating circumstances for that one," reproached Alexander, "We both agreed not to shoot to kill; they were Federation Space Forces not Titans. It was just that they weren't reading from the same page of the script that we were."

* * *

_EFSF Salamis Kai cruiser Endeavour, Lunar Orbit_

Earth Federation Space Forces Lieutenant Junior Grade David Saxon didn't like the current situation. By chance the cruiser he was stationed on had stumbled upon an odd looking AEUG cruiser. The Endeavour was hugging the Lunar surface while the AEUG cruiser had travelling on a high orbital path. Apparently the enemy ship had failed to notice the Federal vessel.

"What do you think Lieutenant?" asked Commander Timothy Dale, the _Endeavour's_ captain.

David turned to face his commanding officer. "I don't know Sir," he replied. "It looks damaged but that bulking front section could be an expanded hanger."

Dale grunted and went back to staring at the fuzzy images of his prey. "The new diktat from the Titans orders us to engage any AEUG vessel we come across."

"We could just ignore them," suggested David. He didn't agree with the methods the AEUG were using, but he did think the Titans had gone too far. "The Titans needn't know we spotted this ship."

"And how do you know they don't have some informants on this ship?" said the Commander. "No it's too risky; we'll have to fight them."

"I don't like it but I agree Sir,"

"Don't worry Lieutenant we just have to be patient," said Dale stoically. "The Titans will get their comeuppance eventually. The Federation Forces just have to wait for the Titans and the AEUG to exhaust each other fighting. Then we'll move in and clean up what's left."

"Assuming the Titans don't dragoon every Federation Forces unit into their fight," commented David.

"It's a simple fact that the Federation Forces are large enough to allow units to be gobbled up by both the Titans and AEUG. There will always be enough remaining to defeat both of them," declared Dale. The commander loosened his captain's jacket slightly; he took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Deploy your squad Lieutenant just don't try too hard."

A wry smile crossed David's face, "Have no fear Sir, we won't cause them too much trouble."

* * *

The hanger technicians already had his Hizack going through its start-up procedure when David Saxon kicked off from the gantry above the hanger. He used one of the shoulder spikes to change his directions and float down to the open cockpit hatch. To David the blue Federation Forces colour scheme didn't look right on the Zeonic-style Hizack. The green of the Titans model seems to suit the mobile suit better in his opinion. In the grand scheme of things the colour of his mobile suit didn't really matter a great deal, what really mattered was how the machine performed. In that respect the Hizack was average at best and was quickly being outstripped by newer machines; however it was still one of the better mobile suits in the Earth Federation Forces arsenal. 

David plonked himself into his linear floating seat and ran his gaze over the Hizacks status readings. Everything looked okay so he gave the thumbs up signal to the hanger technician that was hovering by his cockpit hatch. The technicians floated away and the hatched locked tight with the last section of the panoramic screen coming online.

"Glad you could join us boss," boomed through the speakers built into David's pilot suits helmet. He instantly recognised the feminine tones of his American subordinate Lilly Grace. "I thought we were going to have to leave without you."

"What's the rush?" voiced Herman Berger. "You actually want to help those Titan dogs by fighting the AEUG?"

"Of course not," snapped Grace, "I just want to play with the AEUG a bit, see what they fight like."

Herman grunted in disgust. "Can't you take anything seriously?"

"Would you two stop bickering?" barked David, "It's like being stuck with a pair of children."

"Sorry Sir," replied the two subordinates.

"Good. Now be careful out there we just want to rough up the AEUG a little bit," stated David. "I don't want to hurt them but we will if we have too."

He hit a switch on his console that released the last of the locking clamps on the storage bed to which his Hizack was affixed. David set the blue machine in motion and it slowly began making its way to the mobile suit elevator at the rear of the hanger. Once he reached the elevator he moved the Hizack's arm and pressed the wall mounted switch that activated the elevator. In turn both Herman Berger and Lilly Grace freed themselves from their storage beds and waited for the mobile suit elevator to reset itself.

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit_

"Captain three objects approaching in attack formation from the aft! Size and speed suggests mobile suits, type unknown," yelled the _Valiant's_ radar operator.

"What the hell?" yelled Alexander Jellico. He tried to jump out of his command chair but his waist harness prevented him from getting far. "Where the bloody hell did they come from? Find their cruiser now!"

"It's directly behind us Sir," reported the rather embarrassed chief petty officer in charge of visual observation. "She's a _Salamis Kai_, I think she's the _Endeavour_ Sir."

"The _Endeavour_? She's a Federation Space Forces ship why is she attacking us?" Alexander wondered aloud. "Damn those Titans, they're getting the regular forces to do their dirty work even when they aren't there."

"Enemy mobile suit type confirms," reported the observer chief. "Three Hizacks in Federation Forces colours; armament appears to be machineguns."

Alexander grabbed the communications handset from its recess on his command chair. "Level one battle stations; I repeat level one battle stations. All available mobile suits scramble!"

* * *

Lieutenant Marcus Cole's GM Sniper Custom came to a stop on the _Valiant's_ mobile suit elevator. Besides the green GM was the kit bashed Nemo Cannon of Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Raynor. Clasped in the Sniper Custom's hands was beam launcher Cole was using as a fairly crude sniper rifle. He'd heard rumours that Anaheim was developing a sniper type Nemo complete with a powerful beam smart gun. Naturally he knew the chances of him getting one were pretty slim but he could still dream. His GM's arm extended and activated the elevator controls. 

"Listen up you two," barked James Keffer over both the GM's and Nemo's radios. "We've got a trio of Federal punks in Hizacks out there. Try to disable them but you're authorised to take them out there's a chance could destroy the _Valiant_ or yourselves."

"Affirmative Sir," replied Marcus.

"Don't worry Sir we'll just scare them off," said Jason Raynor. "Compared with that monster these guys are nothing."

"Don't get cocky Raynor," chided Marcus. "We of all people should know not to underestimate the Federation Forces."

"Yes Sir," replied Jason sullenly.

The elevator reached the launch deck and came to a stop. Marcus was the first to make a move and his GM clambered onto the launch catapult. The catapult flung the GM Sniper Custom away from the deck and immediately reset itself in order to launch Raynor's Nemo Cannon.

* * *

"Mobile suit launch confirmed! They're scattering minovsky particles," yelled Herman Berger over the squadron's communications channel. 

David Saxon brought up two enlarged images of the approaching AEUG mobile suits. "That's a GM Sniper Custom? What the hell is one of them doing out here?"

"Looks like the AEUG is getting desperate to use something that old," commented Lilly Grace. "The other one is one of those Nemo we've heard about, looks odd though. I' not getting a clear picture of it there must be something wrong with my computer."

"It's not your computer," said David. "Mine's not clear either; it must be a new model."

Suddenly a pink pinprick of light exploded from the GM Sniper Custom and came hurtling towards David's Hizack. He was barely able to avoid the mega particle beam in time.

"Bloody hell!" he cried, "That thing is packing some serious firepower!" He kicked his Hizack to full throttle and started zigzagging his course to make it harder for the sniper to hit. "Grace, Berger you take the Nemo. I'll deal with the GM."

"Yes Sir!" was the reply from both his subordinates.

As he pulled away from Grace and Berger's Hizacks the effects of the minovsky particles rendered the radio useless. David readied his machinegun but he knew he was still way out of range, for the time being the sniper had the advantage with the range. However the area of space was totally devoid of cover which meant the sniper couldn't hide and take pot-shots. Another mega particle beam came sailing through space but David was able to avoid it fairly easily.

As soon as he came into range he let rip with a short burst from his 120mm machinegun; however the sniper was able to slip out of the way at the last moment. "Not bad for an old machine but don't think that means I'll go easy on you!"

* * *

The Hizacks of Lilly Grace and Herman Berger attempted to bracket the Nemo but the green mobile suit was proving a tricky one to catch. While not very agile the two Federation Forces pilots soon found out the reason their computers hadn't identified the Nemo properly was because of the cannons attached to its backpack. 

"Come on Grace keep up!" yelled Herman as he cut across the Nemo's flight path letting rip with his machinegun as he did so. He scored repeated hits right across the Nemo's torso but the AEUG machine shrugged them off easily. "No way? That thing's got Gundarium armour?" Not letting himself get distracted for too long he instantly started jinking to avoid the expected counterattack. Sure enough both barrels of the Nemo's cannons sent a double helping of mega particles chasing after his Hizack.

In an attempt to draw the Nemo's attention away from her partner Lilly Grace came screaming in from the opposite direction. Her machinegun was blaring away even though she knew it was more or less useless against an opponent encased in Gundarium. As the Nemo began to turn to face her she knew she'd achieved her goal. Deciding that this was a good time to change tactics she tossed her machinegun at the Nemo and drew her beam sabre; this battle would be decided in close combat.

The Nemo tried to bring its beam rifle around but Lilly moved in quickly and sliced the rifle in half. The damaged weapon promptly exploded, a few seconds after the Nemo threw it away, and half blinding all the pilots near it. Lilly recovered quickest and took a few swift swipes at the Nemo with her sabre. The Nemo tried to back away entirely but was hemmed in by a volley of machinegun fire from Herman's Hizack which had crept up behind him. Lilly went in for a thrusting jab and the Nemo desperately tried to evade to the left. To Lilly's relief the Nemo hadn't quite managed to get away and it was not sporting a nasty gash on its left side waist armour plating. The Nemo pilot took advantage of the momentary pause in combat to use his mobile suit's fists in a hammer blow against Lilly's Hizack. She was able to pull her mobile suit away just before the Nemo levelled its beam cannons and fired. The blast completely tore away her Hizack's right arm and part of its backpack.

* * *

David was surprised by how much trouble the GM Sniper Custom was causing him. Everything he'd learnt at the academy, and later on active services, told him that his Hizack should easily out perform a measly GM Sniper Custom. It seemed clear to him now that these mobile suits were piloted by veterans, and good ones at that. He was also worried about how only two AEUG mobile suits had been launched even a standard Salamis Kai carried at least three mobile suits. Perhaps this ship really had been damaged in battle and lost most of its mobile suit team. David hoped they'd managed to take out plenty of Titans before the end. Commander Dale might believe in waiting for the AEUG and Titans to exhaust themselves but he thought that a more proactive approach was needed. 

The GM fired its beam launcher again and David wasn't able to totally avoid it. The beam caught his spiked shoulder armour and ripped it off. Wanting to return the favour David emptied his machineguns ammunition drum at the GM. Most of the hail of bullets went wide but a few managed to hit the GM's left leg and penetrate the titanium alloy armour.

Suddenly there was a hail of beam rifle fire that seemed to saturate the area around David's Hizack with mega particles. One beam blew off his Hizack's right forearm while another tore through its left leg. David started desperately searching for the source of these attacks. There were a trio of Nemos rising from a _Salamis Kai_ cruiser and they were trying to get up close and personal with him. Thankfully the _Endeavour_ fired off a set of retreat flares and began backing away from the pair of AEUG ships. David took this as his cue to beat a hasty retreat as well.

He quickly caught up with Grace and Berger and latched onto them and established a contact link with them. "Well do you know how they fight yet?"

"They fight well," declared Lilly with an almost amused tone to her voice. "It was fun, that pilot's got some skills. Did you have trouble with yours Sir?"

"He's a tough old bugger that's for sure."

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit_

Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. He'd definitely been surprised when the Redoubtable had suddenly appeared on the scene. The last he'd heard she was being refitted in Granada. He wasn't complaining of course the timely arrival of her mobile suit team had saved his pair of pilots.

"Can we get a transmission to the _Redoubtable_?" he asked his communications officer.

"Yes Sir,"

"Well get to it then," ordered Alexander. Moments later a flickering image of the _Redoutable's_ captain appeared on one of the ceiling mounted monitors. "Hello Commander Reese it's good to see you. All I can do is offer my thanks."

"That's okay Captain. We spotted the commotion and just had to check it out." said the bearded young commander. "What happened to your mobile suit team? You only had two of them out there."

"The rigours of combat Commander; pray you never have to endure a mission like ours was," replied Alexander with grim conviction. "Naturally I can't disclose exactly what happened."

"You probably won't have heard yet," said Reese. "Von Braun has been liberated, the Titans pulled out after a battle with the _Argama_."

Upon hearing that nugget of information everyone on the _Valiant's_ bridge brightened up. "That's excellent news!" said Alexander.

"That's why we had to rush the end of our refit," commented Reese. "They need us on a patrol. Even when you get into port don't expect a break."

"Thanks for the advice Commander," said Alexander. "We won't keep up, I'm sure you're anxious to get to your station."

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Amman City Space Dock  
21st August UC 0087_

James Keffer sat on one of the many crates that littered the _Valiant's_ hanger. He was in the middle of cleaning a set of circuit boards for Jason Raynor's Nemo Cannon. Orders had come from Anaheim that no one was to touch the Full Armour Gundam Mark II until one of their representatives arrived to take charge of it. Therefore with no mobile suit of his own and the replacement pilots not arriving for a few days James found himself with little to do. His reports of the incident in Side 4 had already been typed up and sent off to AEUG fleet headquarters; he suspected that it would go from there to the nearest waste bin but at least he'd sent it.

"Hey you pilot!" shouted a female voice. James looked around slightly bemused, he wasn't used to people calling him 'pilot'. He looked across the hanger to see a brown haired woman coming towards him; she was wearing the blue uniform of Anaheim Electronics. "I need to see Lieutenant Keffer immediately."

"What do you want him for?" asked James without giving anything away.

"I need to see him about that!" she snapped while she was pointing at the damaged Full Armour Gundam Mark II.

"Oh that," replied James.

"Yes that. He's trashed a valuable prototype without even having the decency to get some test data," seethed the Anaheim employee. "He's set the project back months and we'll never get the funding to finish it properly now."

"I wouldn't blame him for that if I were you," commented James. "He didn't have all the information he needed for the mission, if he had that this wouldn't have happened."

"And how you know that then, you a mind reader?" she remarked flippantly.

"No, I'm Lieutenant James Keffer, commander of the _Valiant's_ mobile suit team," he said bluntly. "And you are?"

She was quite clearly stunned that she'd been ranting and raving someone to their face. It took her quite a while to recover. "C-Catherine Williamson, I worked on the Full Armour Gundam Mark II project."

"Well it's a nice enough machine if a little sluggish at times. Of course that's to be expected with all that bulky armour," he said as he went back to cleaning the circuit board. "I'd rather have my Rick Dias back, assuming you lot haven't given it to someone else."

"Why didn't you tell me you were Keffer straight away?" asked Catherine.

"I don't know who you are," replied James. "For all I know you could have been a Titans agent sent to assassinate me. Naturally that is unlikely, I don't think I've pissed them off that much yet."

"They could never do that! Not here on Lunar," she exclaimed in shock.

"You don't get out much do you?" asked James. "The Titans do whatever the hell they like; heck they invaded Von Braun easily enough. No where is safe from the Titians right now."

"I want to speak with the Captain," she declared. "I have his new orders."

"Okay," said James with an audible level of weariness in his voice. "I'll take you too him."

* * *

"You mean it's going to take at least a week to get our replacement mobile suits and pilots?" reiterated Alexander Jellico. He leaned back on the chair in his office and rubbed the bridge of his nose; it was going to be one of those days. 

"Resources are stretched at the moment Captain," replied Catherine. "You chose an inconvenient time to loose all those mobile suits."

"Maybe if you idiots had told me what my men were walking into we wouldn't have this problem," snapped James. Captain Jellico's office was cramped at the best of times and now with three people in it was getting quite tight.

"Settle down Lieutenant," placated Alexander. "We've already been through that once."

"I'm sorry Captain but there's little I can do," said Catherine. "I can try to speed up delivery of the mobile suits, especially Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias but the pilots really aren't my department."

"Thank you Ms Williamson any assistance would be greatly appreciated," said Alexander as he stifled a yawn. "It looks like Commander Reese was wrong, we're going to be staying here a while."


	5. Chapter Five

_Titans Asteroid Fortress Gate of Zedan, L3  
24th August UC 0087_

Lieutenant Commander Franz Graser cured his rotten luck. The _Perseus'_ return to the Gate of Zedan had coincided with Lieutenant Commander Daninghan's ill-fated colony drop on Granada city. Graser had the misfortune of having to report to Captain Om after the Titans field commander had received word of Daninghan's failure. Om was not know for being forgiving and Graser's failure in Side 4, compounded by Daninghan's failed colony drop, and resulted in a severe verbal scolding. Om had sent Graser away without any new orders; he dreaded to think what punishment Om would dish out. Graser seethed with fury. He was older and more experienced than that upstart Om; he was the one that should be giving the orders and leading the Titans in the field. If the Titans were under Graser's control none of these disasters would have occurred.

Graser sighed and planted his drink on the bar. He was sat at the bar of the Officers club, hidden deep within the bowels of the asteroid Gate of Zedan. It sickened him to think that the Titans now operated from a former Zeon asteroid fortress. It would have been far more preferable to completely kick the Federation Forces out of Luna II and use that instead. The use of A Baoa Qu was only the beginning of the rot Daninghan's colony drop stunk to high heaven of Zeon influence. It disgusted Graser to think that an alleged Titan officer would use the tactics of those Spacenoid murders. It was true that the Lunar cities and space colonies had to be brought into line but there were far more efficient ways of doing that than dropping a colony.

"Lieutenant Commander Graser?" Graser looked up to see a young junior officer. He noted the purple colouring on the junior officer's uniform and realised he work somewhere close to the upper echelons of the Titans hierarchy.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Graser, what do you want?"

"Sir I was sent by Captain Om to pass on your new orders Sir," reported the junior officer. He pulled a sealed envelope from his jacket and handed it to Graser.

Graser tore open the envelope greedily; he was desperate to find out where his next mission would take him. He read it once and then again and again true to make sure what he was reading was absolutely correct. He couldn't believe it. Rage built up inside of them, and then he exploded and started yelling at the junior officer. "Side 3? What the hell am I being sent to Side 3 for? Is this some kind of joke?"

"I assure you sir, this is no joke. Those orders came from Captain Om."

* * *

Doctor Mooro was highly annoyed. He stormed through the myriad of corridors that adjoined the Gate of Zedan's vast dock complex. Captain Om had had the audacity to order the transfer Zarn Farris to the _Perseus'_ mobile suit team. Mooro would have preferred to keep Zarn close at hand for continued development of the Psyco Gundam mass production test types. Captain Om had authorised Mooro to continue work on the two remaining test frames so that was a small bonus. However the Titans field commander had argued that Zarn required more experience as a pilot using normal mobile suits. Mooro agreed with Om up to that point; but he did not think that the Perseus was a wise choice. Lieutenant Commander Graser hated mobile suit pilots and despised cyber-newtypes. 

Mooro stopped outside the small room that had been set aside for his lab. There was a MP guarding the door. Mooro couldn't decide whether the MP was there to protect the lab or protect the Gate of Zedan from what was inside the lab. It was probably a bit of both. Once inside the lab Mooro could see that Zarn was sitting quietly at one of the desks; he could see that the teenage boy was reading his copy of Henry V again.

"Zarn come here, you have been given new orders," barked Mooro.

Zarn carefully closed his book and then walked over to Doctor Mooro. "What is it Doctor?"

"Captain Om has seen fit to transfer you to the _Perseus_, you will be accompanying them on their next mission," said the Doctor. "You will be part of their mobile suit team, probably piloting one of those Hizack pieces of trash."

"What about you Doctor? Will you be coming as well?"

"No I will remain here and continue with the Psyco Gundam project." Graser could see Zarn's eyes brighten for a moment. Yes it did seem like the young boy yearned to live a little. "You should be careful Zarn that fool Graser will be your direct commanding officer. He may attempt you cause you a mischief."

"If he does that I will kill him," replied Zarn coldly. "He is insignificant."

"Zarn, you have to keep that attitude in check at least until the time is right," scowled Mooro. "Come, I will take you to the _Perseus_."

* * *

The white lab coat wearing Doctor Mooro led Zarn through the maze of corridors that was the interior of the Gate of Zedan. In order to reach the berth where the _Perseus_ was docked they were forced to travel through one of the many gravity blocks dotted around the Gate of Zedan; it was possible to go around the block but that would have added another half an hour onto the journey time. Lieutenant Commander Graser had set a strict timetable for preparation of the _Perseus'_ launch. Mooro didn't think it wise to allow Zarn to be late; there was no point in giving Graser another excuse to berate Zarn. 

Zarn enjoyed being in the gravity blocks. The feeling of gravity keeping his soul from floating free was a reassuring one and reminded him of Mother Earth. He thought it was dangerous for people to spend too much time in weightless environments. He believed that without the effects of gravity your soul to leave your body; causing you to become a soul-less monster no better than the evil Zeeks who killed his family and ravaged Europe.

This particular gravity block was one of the larger ones in the Gate of Zedan. Its proximity of the docks meant that there were a large number of mechanics workshops and one of the large medical facilities. The central corridor of the gravity block was wide and had a set of floor conveyors. The Doctor and the young pilot stepped onto the conveyor which would take them up the asteroid.

Zarn wasn't really paying attention to the passing scenery until an individual on the conveyor headed in the opposite direction caught his attention. She was older than him by a few years and had silvery coloured hair she was, in Zarn's opinion, beautiful. She was surrounded by a bodyguard of thugs along with a white lab coated person. Zarn was enthralled by her and even when they passed each other he turned to keep staring at her.

Mooro noticed that Zarn was staring at something and so turned to see what it was. As soon as he realised who it was he could not hide the disgust on his face. He looked back at Zarn and could see an all too familiar glaze in his eyes. To rectify this he slapped Zarn with all this might. The force of the blow was enough to nearly unbalance the teenage pilot.

"Don't you dare look at that Augusta Trash," roared the Doctor. "She is inferior and will corrupt you Zarn. Never look at pathetic bitch. I don't want a repeat of that Zabiarov incident."

Zarn held a hand to the cheek where Mooro had hit him; there was a look of genuine fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry Doctor," he managed.

"Sorry? You think you are sorry?" ranted Mooro. "You're not sorry at all. You said that the last time. You are special Zarn, unlike all that other trash you volunteered for the cyber-newtype programme. You are better than them; I don't want you mixing with them. Mixing with inferiors might dull your abilities."

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Peresus, The Side 3 Border, L2  
1st September UC 0087_

The _Peresus'_ journey to the border of Side 3 had been uneventful. Lieutenant Commander Graser was bored out of his skull. This mission was a joke. Captain Om had ordered Graser to patrol the border of Side to prevent any possible collusion between the AEUG and those citizens of the Republic of Zeon who might sympathise with the traitors. There had been no intelligence reports suggesting any collusion and in any case sending a single cruiser to guard the entire frontier of Side 3 was beyond a joke; it was an impossible task. So Graser was stuck at the back of beyond until Captain Om decided he had been punished enough.

"Lieutenant Commander we have detected a pair of Republic cruisers on their side of the border, Sir,"

Graser look down at the young Lieutenant who was speaking to him. "What are they doing?" He barely recognised the Lieutenant; he suspected that the young man was a new crewman who had come on board at the Gate of Zedan.

"They appear to be ineptly shadowing us, Sir," reported the Lieutenant. "They are following us at a range of ten kilometres, Sir,"

"Well I suppose they are allowed to do what they want on their side of the border," Graser mused. "Tell me Lieutenant, what is your name? I don't recall your face."

"Er…I'm Lieutenant Neil Masterman, Sir; I joined the crew with Lieutenant Junior Grade Michael Urban at the Gate of Zedan, Sir," replied Lieutenant Masterman. "Why do you think the Zeons are following us, Sir?"

"They don't trust us, that is why," said Graser.

"But I thought we were allies, Sir," said Masterman. It was clear to Graser that the young officer was very inexperienced.

"It is simple Masterman," explained Graser, "Alliances are forged by politicians. Just because politicians start acting all chummy it doesn't mean the soldiers on the ground do. They still hate us and we still hate them because of the War. It will always be like that. You didn't fight in the last war did you Masterman."

"No Sir I did not. I missed it by a year," replied Masterman.

"Then you wouldn't understand Lieutenant," said Graser as he turned his attention back to staring out of the _Peresus'_ main window. He paused for a moment then sighed. "Have our mobile suit pilots standby for launch. It is better to be safe then sorry."

_

* * *

Republic of Zeon Musai-Kai class cruiser Doric, The Side 3 Border, L2_

"Those Titan dogs they think they can just push us around," snarled Captain Vasilios Royale. He stood just a few feet away from the _Doric's_ helmsman. Royale's vast girth seemed to stretch his normal suit to breaking point. "We should sink them now while we have the chance!"

"I don't think that would be advisable Captain," commented Warren Luther. "You would only cause an incident that the Republic can ill afford."

Royale turned to look at the wiry observer. Warren Luther had been sent by the Republic's assembly to observe the Republic's military. "You damned politician's rat, what do you know of war?" barked Royale.

"I assure you Captain I did my part during the last war," replied Luther calmly. "I served with the Space Attack Force as a mobile suit pilot. We used to get up close and personal with our enemies, unlike you ship drivers who just pound away at long range with your main guns."

Royale only just managed to reign in his anger. Had he less self control he would have probably pounded Luther into a bulkhead. "Well then Mr Lieutenant we will give our guests a little welcoming visit. Contact the _Corinthian_ order her mobile suit team to buzz the Titans cruiser," commanded Royale.

Warren Luther simply raised an eyebrow and commented. "I don't think that's a good idea either Captain."

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Peresus, The Side 3 Border, L2_

Lieutenant Junior Grade Josh Renque paced, as best as was possible in a zero-gravity environment, up and down the small pilots ready room. He was in a foul mood for a number of reasons. First there was the very nature of the 185th Mobile Suit team's mission; still being assigned to the _Peresus_ and that cantankerous old fool Graser was a pain. Secondly there was the fact that the newtype brat who had messed up in Side 4 had been assigned to the 185th to act as replacement pilot. Yuri Vedrievich had been bumped up the full Lieutenant and given command of the team.

At that moment the door to the ready room slid open and Yuri Vedrievich walked into the room accompanied by the other new pilot Lieutenant Junior Grade Michael Urban. For some reason the upper echelons of the Titans had decided that the _Peresus_ should have four pilots now. "Where is Zarn?" asked the senior officer.

"He is in the hanger examining his Hizack," replied Renque. "He said he wanted to see what an inferior mobile suits looks like. God that brat gets on my nerves. He shouldn't even be here!"

"His transfer orders came from Captain Om himself," stated Vedrievich sternly. "If you want to question the matter I suggest you take it up with him." He rubbed an itchy spot just behind his ear. "At least the boy is keen; he takes the time to look over his mobile suit. You could learn something from him Josh, when was the last time you properly examined your own mobile suit? You always let the flight crews do it for you."

"That's their job," said Renque dismissively.

"It's your job as well Mister," said Vedrievich angrily. He stomped over to Renque and prodded him in the chest with an extended finger. "If you don't buck up comrade I'll have your arse busted back down to Ensign in no time at all." The Lieutenant straightened up and turned to face the replacement pilot Michael Urban, who had been hiding in the corner. "Come on Urban, best give our mobile suits a once over."

* * *

"Lieutenant Commander Graser we have confirmed a mobile suit launch from the trailing Republic cruiser!" yelled the _Peresus'_ radar operator over the low lever hubbub of the bridge. 

"You've what?" demanded Graser. He floated down from his lofty command chair and hovered next to the radar operator.

"Two mobile suits launched from the second Republic _Musai_ Sir," reported the radarman. "Profile suggests Rick Doms, Sir. They are headed on a parallel course to our own, Sir,"

"What is their armament and have their cruisers starting spreading minovsky particles?" Graser quizzed.

"Appears to be 380mm bazookas and no, Sir,"

"Interesting, I wonder what those Zeeks are up too."

"Shall I order our mobile suits to intercept Sir?" asked Lieutenant Masterman who had been loitering near the rear of the bridge.

"Not yet," replied Graser without even looking at Masterman. "As much as I hate the Zeeks it would do us no good to actually start a fight with them."

By now the two Republic of Zeon Rick Doms had caught up with the _Peresus_. Flying in close formation the two mobile suits raced towards the _Salamis Kai's_ command tower from the aft. Mere moments before collision they spilt off and swung around the tower at roughly bridge level. They continued down the length of the cruiser. After passing the bow they arced back round and hurtled towards the bridge. As they whooshed past everyone on the bridge, apart from Graser, ducked slightly. Graser stood in resolute defiance; he wasn't going to be frightened by some Zeek show off.

"Launch our mobile suits," he ordered. "Have them form up and escort the _Peresus_."

* * *

The _Peresus'_ mobile suit elevator slowly lifted Lieutenant Yuri Vedrievich's and Ensign Zarn Farris' green Hizacks from the bowels of the cruiser to the catapult deck. Once it was in place Vedrievich gently eased his Hizack onto the catapult and allowed the locks to set in place. 

"Keep it loose out there people, don't like the Zeeks rile you up," ordered Vedrievich. "Yuri Vedrievich, Hizack, Launching!"

The catapult flung Yuri's Hizack out into the depths of space where it was quickly joined by Zarn's. A few minutes later the elevator was bringing up Renque's and Urban's Hizacks. When all four of them were in space they peeled off to their positions. Renque and Urban covered the bow of the _Peresus_ while Vendrievich and Zarn covered the aft.

The Rick Doms now took interest in the Titans mobile suits. The pair spilt off onto their own to investigate the Hizacks. One of the purple and black Rick Dom cruised up close to Zarn's Hizack. The Republic of Zeon mobile suit then powered up and darted in front of the green Hizack. In an impressive display of close formation flying the Rick Dom cut his main thrusters and his verniers to slip above Zarn with only meters to spare.

* * *

In his cockpit Zarn was getting seriously frustrated. "Get away from me the damned dirty spacenoid!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "How dare you come near me?" 

"Ensign Farris calm down," ordered Lieutenant Vedrievich. "That Zeek pilot is only trying to test you. Ignore him."

The Rick Dom cut into a barrel roll that encompassed Zarn's Hizack. Mid way through the roll the Rick Dom stuck out an arm. On the hand two fingers were stuck up in the ancient gesture of defiance invented by English archers centuries ago.

"Get away from me you stinking Zeek bastard!" roared Zarn. The mere concept of the Titans being allied to these lowlife spacenoids was unbearable. He had to do something about it; surely they would thank him for it in the long run. He quickly deactivated the safety controls for his beam rifle and in one swift movement brought the weapon to bear. As the Rick Dom began a sweeping move bringing it up in front of Zarn's Hizack the young Titan burned a mega particle hole right through the Rick Dom's back.

The Rick Dom that had been hovering around the bow instantly reacted to the death of his comrade. Kicking the bulky antique mobile suit up to full power it charged towards Zarn's Hizack with its 380mm bazooka ready to fire. As it closed the range he opened fire, sending two of the massive bazooka rounds hurtling towards Zarn's suit. For his part Zarn was easily able to avoid the relatively slow munitions. Zarn swung his beam rifle around with the intention of ending the life of the second Republican pilot.

* * *

As events unfolded Vedrievich swore loudly and without thinking set his Hizack on an intercept course with the remaining Rick Dom. "Renque you and Urban restrain Farris. I'll deal with the Rick Dom," without even waiting for a reply he closed with the Rick Dom. Deciding it wasn't worth risking using his beam rifle at this time, or messing around with the inefficient heat hawk, he chose to ram the Rick Dom. Using the Hizack's left shoulder, with the spikes, he barged into the Rick Dom and knocked it off course. Before the Zimmad machine could regain its position Vedrievich had his beam rifle aimed at its torso at the same time he opened an open communications channel. "If you even move that bazooka in my direction I will not hesitate to kill you right here and now. Be smart and drop it." The Rick Dom hesitated for a few seconds as the pilot decided what to do. Eventually it let go and allowed the 380mm bazooka to drift free. 

Vedrievich breathed a sigh of relief. He then opened a channel to the _Peresus_. "185th to _Peresus_ situation under control. I will escort the Rick Dom back to its cruiser. Lieutenant Junior Grade Renque and Lieutenant Junior Grade Urban will escort Ensign Farris back to the _Peresus_."

He gestured with his beam rifle to the Rick Dom and it seemed to get the idea. It slowly started to move back towards the Republic cruisers.

_

* * *

Republic of Zeon cruiser Doric, The Side 3 Border, L2_

Captain Vasilios Royale was furious, even more so that usual. "Those impudent Titans bastards! How dare they do this!" he roared.

Warren Luther however was far more level headed. "Captain reasonable evaluation shows that you are just as much in the wrong as they are." he said calmly. "You shouldn't have ordered the mobile suits to buzz the bridge of the Titans vessel. However your pilots also overstepped their orders. They were only told to buzz the bridge and not the mobile suits and so the blame also falls on them. This will certainly liven up my report; I thought it was going to be so boring. Don't worry Captain I will stress that it was the Titan mobile suit which fired first. I will recommend to the assembly that we file a formal complaint against the Titans, not that any action will be taken of course."

Warren walked off the bridge with a slight smile on his face. Yes this incident would make his report to the Republic a little more interesting but they wouldn't really take any notice of it. They were too busy trying to keep in the Titans good books.

His detailed analysis of the Republic of Zeon's military capability certainly wouldn't be seen by Princess Mineva Lao Zabi and it probably won't even get as far as Haman Karn. However Warren thought it necessary to include ever detail that might assist Axis when the mighty asteroid fortress finally returned to the Earth Sphere. He knew the report would be of interest to many of Axis' military commanders, included his own CO Commander Anthony Curran, they would want to know how far Side 3 had slipped during the years since the One Year War.

_

* * *

Titans cruiser Peresus, The Side 3 Border, L2_

Just like Captain Vasilios Royale, Lieutenant Commander Graser was also furious. He was furious at Zarn Farris for doing something as stupid as shooting down a Republic mobile suit. It wasn't so much the killing of a Zeon that made it a problem it was the political implications. It would almost certainly cause trouble back at the Gate of Zedan which would probably result in the _Peresus_ being stuck out on the border even longer.

"When they drag that brat out of his cockpit I want him slung in the brig immediately," he ordered.

"I'll see to it right away Sir," replied Lieutenant Masterman who quickly departed the bridge.

"Captain Om isn't going to like this at all," Graser muttered to himself. "Increase sailing speed to one half. We should try and get some distance between us and the Zeeks."

Renque and Urban both leaned into the cockpit of Zarn's Hizack and dragged the young newtype out of it. The young boy's body was limp and he did not even try to resist. Lieutenant Masterman was waiting for them to bring out into the light of the hanger.

"Ensign Farris you are to confined to the brig by order of Lieutenant Commander Graser until we receive word from the Gate of Zedan on what to do with you," said the Lieutenant in a formal tone of voice. Zarn didn't even reply. It was almost as if the boy had lost the will to live. "Take him away,"

The junior grade lieutenants hauled Zarn away towards the nearest airlock that led into the ships interior. As soon as Renque had determined that they had gotten far enough away from Masterman he stopped them and leant in close to Zarn's head.

"You might be the good for nothing brat that caused Lieutenant Hoges death but if you can keep killing Zeeks and traitors like that I might actually be able to respect you," he said quietly. "Don't think we friends or anything, but I might just be able to respect you enough not kill you while you sleep okay?"

* * *

Chapter notes: 

Ship names and types  
_Doric_ – an order columns from Greek architecture. This ship is the standard _Musai Kai_ as seen in Zeta Gundam. I'm not totally sure on the number of heavy mobile suits, like the Rick Dom, they can carry which is why no mobile suits launched from her in this chapter.  
_Corinthian_ - an order columns from Greek architecture. This ship is a two-turret design. The style is the same as the _Musais_ seen in A War in the Pocket.


	6. Chapter Six

_AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Amman City Space Dock  
5th September UC 0087_

The red Rick Dias was lowered down into the _Valiant's_ mobile suit hanger by the crane mounted on the ceiling of the space dock. When the mobile suit touched the deck a group of deck hands swarmed around it to release the harness that connected it to the crane. Once the harness was cleared one of the deck hands clambered into the cockpit of the Rick Dias to slowly move it to the free mobile suit cradle.

"Why is my Rick Dias red?" Lieutenant James Keffer asked Catherine Williamson.

The female Anaheim Electronics employee turned to look at the grumpy pilot. She was getting fed up with Keffer's constant questioning, she had put up with it all afternoon. "I'm sure you already know that red is the official colour scheme of the Rick Dias' Lieutenant,"

"Yeah but my Rick Dias was sporting the old official colours when you took it off me," replied Keffer. "I want to know why it is now coloured red."

"I suspect someone repainted it," she replied casually as she checked her clipboard to make sure the right supplies were being loaded onto the Valiant.

"I never asked for my mobile suit to be repainted. I liked the black," Stated the pilot. "I don't want my mobile suit to look like some Redcomet reject. I might as well paint a target on my forehead and carry around a sign saying 'Here I am, shoot me now'."

"Lieutenant you know the procedures for custom paint jobs on mobile suits." replied Catherine calmly. "I suggest you go and follow those procedures rather than harass me."

"I'm not harassing you Miss Williamson," said James rather surprised that she thought he was. "I only want to know why my Rick Dias has been painted red."

It was at this point that the normally quiet Catherine Williamson snapped. "Lieutenant Keffer, I have been patient with your constant twittering all afternoon but you really must shut up now! If you don't leave me alone I'll never get all this delivery checked off. I'm sure you want to get back out there on patrol and the best way to achieve that is to leave me alone!"

"Are you suggesting that I'm slowing you down?"

"Yes!"

"You should have said something sooner."

"Keffer get lost!"

* * *

"You can come in now James," said Captain Alexander Jellico after the buzzer to his office door rang out. He did not look up from the masses of paperwork on his desk as the door slid open and the jump suited form of James Keffer entered. 

"How did you know it was me?" asked James.

"Your mobile suit just came back therefore I surmised that you would come by to complain about something," replied Jellico as he put his signature on the report he was reading. "Last time you complained that they had messed with the padding in your cockpit chair."

"Well they did!" replied James indignantly.

"What is it this time?" said Jellico finally looking up from his work.

"They repainted my mobile suit red." stated James.

"Please tell me you are not going to make a big fuss over this James," said Jellico as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's trivial."

"It might be trivial to you Captain but it's a matter of life and death for us pilots!" retorted James. "A bright red mobile suit can be detected easier by a ship's observers. It could totally mess up a reconnaissance mission."

"You are not going to let this go are you?" asked Jellico wearily. "Fine you have my permission to repaint it anyway you like." He picked up a wad of papers from his desk and handed them to James. "Our new orders are in; we set sail once our supplies have been stowed. For our first mission we are to escort a transport ship, the _St Joseph Express_, while they deploy a number of automated defence platforms along the main transport route between Side 2 and Side 7."

"What's the point in that?" asked James. "Those old platforms are practically useless. It only takes a half skilled pilot to deal with those things."

"That may be true but I believe the hope is that they cause some trouble for some Titans who aren't paying attention," said Jellico. "I can't see it happening myself but orders are orders."

"Okay so that's number one," said James taking the seat Jellico offered him. "What about number two?"

"I think you'll enjoy this one. Recently we have been getting taciturn support from elements within the Republic of Zeon military. Basically they haven't closed the border even though the Titans have requested them do so. It has allowed us to get recruits from the Republic." said Jellico. "Recently the Titans dispatched a _Salamis Kai_ cruiser to patrol the border. They've only been there a few days and already they have captured and turned back three shuttles."

"So it is our job to move in a scare them off?" suggested James.

"Not quite. Ever since the Federation Assembly gave its full backing to the Titans we have been vastly outnumbered. Anaheim has decided that we need to reduce the number of ships being used by the Titans." said Jellico. "Therefore we have been ordered to capture or destroy the Titans cruiser patrolling the border. Naturally they would prefer we capture it so we can use it against them."

James let out a long low whistle. "That's going to be fun. Do they want us to swat down the _Dogosse_ Gier while we are at it? Just destroying it would be easy but capture? I mean it not like there is going to be any sympathetic members of the crew. What about the Republican forces? Surely they won't just sit by while we tussle with a Titans ship."

"We have a little luck there. The Titans cruiser has succeed in annoying the entire Republic border patrol force when one of their Hizacks shot down a Rick Dom. Intelligence suggests that they won't get involved." said Jellico. "I think you know the commander of the cruiser, it is the _Perseus_ under Lieutenant Commander Franz Graser."

"Graser? That old fighter pilot? He was my commander during the stalemate period of the last war. Then he was a ship driver near the end. I had no idea he was still around," said James rather surprised. "I figured he bought it at A Baoa Qu. He's a stubborn old fool who won't give up easily. That said he never really grasped the intricacies of mobile suit combat so maybe that's something we can use."

"Something you should know about our replacement pilots, James," said Jellico. "Since we'll be operating near the Republic's border the upper echelons have decided that we need some local help. Therefore our replacements are all Republic citizens who've joined the AEUG."

"Zeeks, they are lumbering us with Zeeks?" James replied with indignation permeating his voice.

"Don't make a fuss about this James," declared Jellico.

"Is that an order Sir?"

"No I'm asking you as a friend," replied Jellico. "But I'll make it an order if I have too. I would much rather this to be a relatively happy cruise."

_

* * *

Amman City Space Dock, AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant berth_

"You've got to be kidding me! This can't be our ship! It's decrepit." declared Ensign Richard Vaughn as the six wheeled grey jeep came to a stop right next to the main embarkation ramp of the _Valiant_.

"Don't set you sights too high, boy," said the jeep's driver. "The _Valiant_ is a venerable old ship with a steadfast crew. You should be more worried about gaining the trust of her mobile suit commander. Keffer is a real taskmaster and he isn't going to like you lot."

"And why is that oh sage of the space dock?" Vaughn asked flippantly.

"I would have thought that was obvious boy," replied the 'sage of the space dock'. "You are Zeeks, plain and simple."

"Is he such a bigot that he won't accept us just because we are from Side 3?" quizzed Vaughn.

"Give it a rest Vaughn," ordered Lieutenant Junior Grade Joel Williams, the black haired leader of the Zeonic pilots. "Grab your gear; we had better report to the Captain right away."

The trio of pilots piled out of the jeep. They started up the embarkation ramp however once they reached the top it dawned on Williams that he had no idea where to begin looking for the Captain. "Does anyone know there way around a Federation ship?" he half asked his comrades.

"I was captured and pulled onto a Feddie transport ship after A Baoa Qu," said Ensign Philip Terizan, the third pilot who had remained silent during the jeep journey. "Other than that I've got no idea."

Deciding that just standing around in the corridor wasn't going to achieve anything Urban resolved to ask someone for directions. "Excuse me but can you help us?" he asked a passing crewman who was clad in a Federation Forces uniform. "We are looking for the Captain; we are supposed to report to him."

"You must be the replacement pilots. I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Raynor part of the mobile suit team." said the young man Willians stopped. "We sure are glad to see you. I hope you are good because we don't get easy missions very often. Captain Jellico should be on the bridge by now, well that is assuming Keffer isn't holding him up by complaining about something."

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Near the Side 2 border  
8th September UC 0087_

The last of the _Valiant's_ Nemos took off from the launch catapult and swung round to join the rest of the mobile suit team waiting between the _Valiant_ and the _St Joseph Express_. The six mobile suits from the Valiant were joined by a pair of GM IIs from the _St Joseph Express._

James Keffer toggled through his preset communications channels until he reached the one assigned to all the mobile suits under his command. "First off I'd like to thank Ensigns Juller and Trent from the _St Joseph Express_ for joining us for this exercise. You Zeek boys have had a few days to get used to your Nemos so we will be going all out with this one."

"What is the plan for this drill sir?" asked Joel Williams. After the first meeting with Lieutenant Keffer and the Valiant's other pilots Williams, along with the other Zeon pilots, had barely seen Keffer. Williams suspected that the ex-Federation Forces pilot was deliberately avoiding them. The young pilot, Jason Raynor, admitted as much earlier in the day while they were in the mess hall.

"The Zeek boys along with Juller and Trent will stage a mock attack on the _Valiant_ while Raynor, Cole and myself defend." replied Keffer. "Once all the mobile suits on either side have been disabled we will repeat the exercise with a role reversal."

"Isn't five take three a little uneven sir?" asked Vaughn. "I don't want you making it too easy for us."

"I assure you Ensign," replied Keffer gruffly. "You will not find anything about these exercises easy."

* * *

The two forces spilt up to start the drills. Joel Williams didn't think this was going to go well. During the One Year War he has heard stories about the Federation Forces' White Panther ace, the mobile suit pilot who stalked his prey before finishing them off. It had come as something of a surprise to discover that the perpetually grumpy James Keffer was the White Panther. 

"This should be easy," said Vaughn over the communications channel assigned to Williams' team. "We out number them and they've even got one of those old Sniper Customs."

"You really are an idiot sometimes Vaughn," commented Philip Terizan. "There is a reason Lieutenant Cole is piloting a GM Sniper Custom and that is he is a damned good sniper. I heard that on their last mission he out fought a Hizack in that thing."

"Okay listens up. We will split into two and try to bracket them high and low." decided Williams. "Juller and Trent you go low, the rest of us will go high." Williams took note on how Keffer's team were deploying around the _Valiant_. The Sniper Custom was taking up position standing on the bow the cruiser; Raynor's Nemo Cannon was holding station twenty meters off the portside of the command tower. Keffer's Rick Dias was actually advancing towards the alleged 'attacking' force. "Damn this guy is arrogant," Williams said to himself. "But he's probably got more combat experience than all of us put together."

Things did not go well when the fighting began. There was a brief flash of light and then instantly Vaughn's Nemo activated its 'I'm dead' beacon. The mobile suits beam weaponry had been modified slightly so that they could only paint a target with a low power laser beam. If a mobile suit was hit with one of these beams its computer would calculate the damage and shut down systems to simulate the damage.

Williams knew it would take all his skill just to stay alive in the face of Keffer's Rick Dias. As if on cue the black mobile made a beeline towards is Nemo. Williams could only assume that it was Keffer's intention to defeat the leader of the 'Zeek boys' and justify his position as top pilot. The Rick Dias was faster, more manoeuvrable and better armed that the Nemo. Williams suspect it wouldn't be a long battle but he resolved to try and make Keffer work for the kill.

* * *

Joel Williams sank into one of the chairs in the pilot's ready room with a rather depressing clunk. He was joined shortly after by the rest of the Valiant's mobile suit pilots. The first exercise had not gone well. After Keffer had dispatched Williams' Nemo with just three rifle shots he had gone on to decimate the attacking force before Raynor picked off Juller's lone GM II at the end. The second exercise was hardly an improvement. Well timed shots from Raynor and Cole downed the _Valiant_ with ease while Keffer led the escorting mobile suits on a merry chase around the _St Joseph Express_. Williams' only solace came from the fact that he had at least managed to hit Keffer this time round, though not enough to put him out of the battle. 

"That was pretty dismal," declared Keffer and he strode to the front of the room. "If you keep up like that the Titans are going kill you. As soon as we are finished here in Side 2 we will be conducting more drills."

"Geez what a slave driver, not even Curran pushed us this hard," muttered Williams under his breath.

"What did you just say?" barked Keffer.

"Nothing sir," replied Williams.

"You said something pilot and I want to hear it," demanded Keffer sternly.

Williams sighed and decided it wasn't worth arguing over. "I said you were a slave driver and that not even Curran drove us this hard."

"Curran? As in Anthony Curran from Side 5?" Keffer looked as white as a sheet. "You served with Anthony Curran, the Storm Lord?"

"Yeah he was my commanding officer during the latter stages of the war," said Williams rather sheepishly. "He was a devil for drills but he guided us through Solomon and A Baoa Qu."

"Is he still with the Republic?" demanded Keffer, "Is he alive?"

"I haven't seen him since A Baoa Qu," replied Williams. "He said he couldn't stay any longer and headed off to Axis."

* * *

James Keffer slumped into the small chair in his quarters. He could scarcely believe it. Anthony survived the war! James wondered if his old friend had changed any from when they last met in person. Letting his tiredness finally get the better of him James allowed his eyes to close slowly. 

_Balda Bay Colony, Side 6  
11th June UC 0079_

_James Keffer walked onto the peaceful plaza and took in the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the place. Here in Side 6 it hardly seemed like there was a war raging in the Earth Sphere. Sure there were some limitations on what foodstuffs that was normally imported but by and large the people made do. He ran a hand through his hair and started to walk down a small flight of steps into an area dominated by a café with alfresco seating._

_The other members of his flight had gathered around a table on the far left hand side of the seating area. It didn't take James long to realise why they'd chosen that position. On the extreme right hand side was a table occupied by three Zeon officers. There was a no man's land between the two groups as no civilians wanted to get caught in any potential trouble. James didn't blame them; he thought that whoever's bright idea it was to allow both Earth Federation personnel and Zeons in the same colony should be shot. _

_From the Federal table Wendy Lockhart waved at James and beckoned him to come and join them. James waved back and taking one last look at the Zeons he started walking towards his comrades. Just as James was moving his head away the Zeon who's back had been towards James moved enough for his face to be seen. James stopped dead in his tracks; he starred at the Zeon officer and couldn't believe his eyes. Surely it couldn't be him, what were the chances of them meeting here and now; it was unbelievable. One of the other Zeons must have said something funny because now James could hear that distinctive laughter which he'd known so well during his childhood. He was sure it was him and thus he started striding towards the Zeon's table._

_The Zeon officers were getting ready to leave when James reached their table. They either hadn't noticed him or were ignoring him since he was able to get within a few feet of them. At this close range James was positive of the identity of his target._

_He tapped the Zeon officer on their shoulder and said, "Excuse me you appear to have forgotten something," As the Zeon turned to look back James punched him with all his might in the face. Not only did the punch send the Zeon officer down to the ground it also drew blood._

_The two other Zeons span around to see what had happened. One of them instantly went for his pistol but the officer James had punched intervened by yelling, "Stop! Put that away, and stand down," He slowly stood up and pulled a handkerchief from a pocket to wipe the blood away. He then brushed some dirt off his uniform and shock some more from his black hair. "Well James it has been a while hasn't it." said Anthony Curran._

"_Not long enough you traitorous bastard," snapped James, anger flowed through him like a torrent._

"_I thought you were a militia pilot back home," said Anthony. He righted a chair and sat on it, he didn't see the need to stand during the inevitable argument. "I would never have thought you capable of joining the Earth Federation Space Forces."_

"_It's a little hard to be a militiaman around our old haunts. If I spent too much time there I think I'd start to glow," venom dripped from every word of James' reply._

_Anthony's determined stance seemed to drop for a moment when he heard that. "Yes that was somewhat unfortunate."_

"_Unfortunate? How could you possibly say that?" said James with utter disbelief in his voice. "They're all dead Anthony! My family, your family everyone we knew. They're all dead!"_

"_The Side had been corrupted by collaborators, it had to be purified to facilitate spacenoid independence," replied Anthony with a new passion and vigour to his voice. "It's unfortunate but it was the only way."_

"_Listen to yourself Anthony! You're just spewing propaganda. Your Zeon buddies slaughtered billions of innocence civilians. There only crime was being spacenoids living in Earth Federation controlled colonies." countered James. "Is that how Zeon plans on granting freedom to all spacenoids by killing them all?" _

"_The weak must be removed to make room for the strong," said Anthony, "It's the only way for Zeon to break the Federation's oppressive hold on the colonies."_

"_Was your mother weak Anthony? Was mine? Were any of the families weak?" James yelled the last part, trying to hammer home his point. "I was there; I saw what you murderers were doing."_

"_I was there as well James!" replied Anthony. "I saw the mighty Earth Federation Space Forces cowering and using the colonies as shields against our attacks."_

"_We were protecting the colonies," snapped James, "All I remember is the whole damned Zeek fleet throwing nukes around like there was no tomorrow. Is that how Zeon solves all their problems? You can't beat the Earth Federation Space Forces in a fair fight so you nuke it instead?"_

"_How dare you even suggest that your corrupt Federation was protecting the colonies." snarled Anthony. "All they care about is protecting their own hides, what more can up expect from an oppressive regime like that."_

"_The Federation might not be perfect," replied James calmly. "But at least it's better than some authoritarian dictatorship like Zeon. You're fighting the wrong war Anthony. If Zeon wins all you'll have achieved is to replace the Federation with a far worse Zeon dictatorship, is that what you really want for the colonies?"_

"_You're blind James, you don't understand Zeon like I do," said Anthony. "Once we defeat the Federation the colonies will be free, all you know is the Federation's propaganda."_

"_You had better watch out Anthony because we're coming and your pitiful principality won't be able to hold out." said James. His eyes were burning passion and an absolute confidence in what he believed. "We'll smash every one of you asteroids fortresses and if needs be I'll tear apart every single colony in Side 3 unlike Zeon is dead. And if I come across you Anthony I'll show you the same level of compassion and mercy as Zeon showed the spacenoids of Sides 1, 2, 4 and 5."_

_

* * *

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, On route to the Side 3 border  
10th September UC 0087_

The mission to Side 2 ended without any problems. The _St Joseph Express_ was able to deploy the automated defence platforms with only one hiccup. During the seeding operation and unidentified shuttle approached the area. Richard Vaughn, who had been patrolling at the time, fired a few warning shots to scare them away. Unfortunately he accidentally hit the shuttle, damaging its apogee motors, further investigate revealed the shuttle was carrying at delegation from the Side 2's Mayor's office who had come out to examine AEUG's defensive measures. Captain Jellico's quickly applied diplomatic intervention was able to avoid a serious bit of bad PR.

Now the pilots of the _Valiant_ were once again gathered in the briefing room while James Keffer and Captain Jellico disclosed to them the details of their mission to Side 3.

"Now I'm sure you can understand this is why Lieutenant Junior Grade Williams and his companions were assigned to the Valiant," said Jellico. "They know this bit of space and I'm sure their experience will be valuable."

Williams raised a hand to ask a question, Jellico nodded an approval for him to speak. "Do we have a plan yet Sir as to how we are going to take down the Perseus?"

"We have some ideas," replied Keffer. "However I am open to any suggestions."

This time it was Jason Raynor who raised a hand. "Well Sir I was thinking we could recreate our first mission." There seemed to be a few moments of unspoken conversation between Keffer and Raynor before he continued. "After all we are packing a few clay bazookas."

"You are thinking on the same wavelength as the Captain and myself, Jason," said Keffer. "And that is currently our number one plan."

"I appear to be missing something here," commented Williams. "How does your first mission apply to this situation?"

"We used the adhesive munitions for the clay bazooka to snag some GM IIs while they were patrolling the Sea of Solomon," said Raynor. "It was a ballsy mission but we got five GM IIs out of it. I think we can use the clay bazookas to clog up the cruisers' engines and trap their mobile suits in the hanger."

Seeing that Williams was satisfied with that answer Jellico decided to call the briefing to a close. "Well gentlemen I suggest you set up some drills and start trying out this strategy. It won't be long until we reach Side 3 and our hunt begins."


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

_AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Side 3 Border, L2  
15th September UC 0087_

Lieutenant James Keffer sucked up a straw full of coffee from his drinks carton as he floated up to Captain Jellico's command chair. The view out of the _Valiant's_ bridge window was of the greyish brown of the interior the dummy asteroid balloon that surrounded the _Valiant_. It had been decided that the best way to sneak up on the _Perseus_ would be undercover of an asteroid field; however since there wasn't a natural one nearby they were forced to improvise with dummy asteroids. Now the _Valiant_ was forced to rely on the handful of cameras secreted around the exterior of the dummy asteroid for her view of the outside world.

"Well, Captain, how are our subjects doing?" asked Keffer as he looked at the monitor showing the starboard hind-quarter of the _Perseus_, the lighting on the bridge was set at a low level so he was forced to squint.

"Nothing different from yesterday," replied Captain Jellico. "They send a patrol fighter out at regular intervals to do sweeps of the local area but that's about it. They've come and checked us over three times and failed to workout what we are. They are either stupid or not doing their jobs properly."

"At this moment of time I'm perfectly happy with that," commented Keffer. "We still need at least twenty minutes before we'll be ready to sortie. There were some problems with Raynor's Nemo Cannon. I swear we have to get something permanent rather than that kitbashed job."

"Anaheim is still dragging their feet over that one. Seems as though they don't like taking suggestions from chief mechanics on cruisers," replied Jellico in a half-hearted manor. "They think he's getting above his station."

"They always say that," replied Keffer dismissively. "They wouldn't know a good idea if it came up and bit them on the ."

"I don't know. That Catherine Williamson seemed nice and open to new ideas," said Jellico with a slight softness to his voice.

In reply Keffer half-cocked an eyebrow as he looked at his captain and then spoke. "I'll be in the hanger."

---

_Titans cruiser Perseus, Side 3 Border, L2_

The hatch to the _Perseus'_ bridge slip open and Lieutenant Neil Masterman walked through it. He paused for a moment to run his eyes over the display screen on the back wall; it plotted the relative positions of all the objects currently on the radar screen. A pair of Republic cruisers was still shadowing them on the other side of the border but this time they were at the very edge of radar range. Much closer at hand was one of the Federation's old asteroid listening posts. There had been no mention of local Federation Forces units in the mission briefing which forced Masterman to assume it was deserted.

Masterman relieved the ensign who had been in command and took up his position in the command chair. A crew-woman appeared to give Masterman a copy of the latest communication reports from command. The latest report suggested that an AEUG vessel matching the description of the vessel the _Peresus_ met in Side 4 had been spotted heading for Side 3. The information was sketchy and came from a less than reliable informant but it was certainly something to think about.

Ever since the incident on the 1st September Lieutenant Commander Graser had been spending less and less time on the bridge. Graser had delegated much of the command operations to Masterman while he brooded in his cabin. This suited Masterman and the crew of the _Perseus_ just fine; morale was up and so was efficiency. Graser had an amazing ability to make everyone around him feel miserable and be less productive. Masterman knew it was important to keep the crew happy. While the Perseus was a Titans ship it was by no means wholly crewed by Titans personnel. The officers were all Titans but the vast majority of the ratings were from the Earth Federation Space Forces; left over from when the Titans commandeered the _Perseus_ in March. They were people vital to the running of the ship and Masterman did not believe the Titans personnel would be able to overcome them if mutiny ever loomed.

Masterman picked up the handset from its cradle, in the arm of the command chair, and tapped in the code for the hanger. "Hanger Two this is the bridge. Please prep the Toriares for patrol duty have it ready to go in twenty minutes." He didn't wait for the reply of the mechaman who answered the call. His next call was too the brig. "Brig this is the bridge. Release Ensign Farris and bring him to the bridge."

Five minutes later Farris was escorted onto the bridge by a pair of security guards. Farris himself looked rather dishevelled it was clear to Masterman that the boy wasn't used to confinement. Masterman hopped out of the command chair and stood right in front of the young pilot, he was at least a foot taller than Farris.

"Ensign Farris, how good of you to join me," said Masterman in an ever so slightly condescending tone. "I trust your time in the brig has served you well. You have had plenty of time to dwell on your actions."

"Yes, sir," replied Farris sullenly.

"If it was up to me I would keep you in the brig for the rest of the month," declared Masterman. "However we have received word from command that you are to be released, you can thank your "special status" for that. The top brass back at command will not always be able to bail you out Farris. If you are ever going to become a great pilot you will have to learn to control your emotions. They will be the death of you. Now go clean your self up before you go back on duty, dismissed."

Masterman climbed back into the command chair and settled himself down for a long quiet watch. After a little while he took a paperback book out from where it was wedged down the side of the chair. The book was a collection of essays on warship combat in the minovsky era. The post One Year War edition had some prominent articles written by Bright Noa, the legendary captain of the _White Base_. At the space forces academy most of the instructors looked down on the achievements of Bright Noa however the cadet turned captain had a cult following among many of the new recruits. Masterman did not get involved in the hero worship but was not fool enough to ignore the insights that could be gleamed from Noa's experiences.

---

_AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Side 3 Border, L2_

The last of the _Valiant's_ mobile suits stepped off the mobile suit elevator and out onto the ship's hull. Since surprise was so important to the success of the mission it had been decided to forego the traditional catapult launch. This meant the six mobile suits would have to leap off the hull under their own power. Each of them was equipped with a clay bazooka; even Raynor's Nemo Cannon which was forced to carry the bazooka underarm due to the complicated arrangement of the cannons.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Keffer via skin-talk. His subordinates replied with a chorus of confirmations. "Remember hit the hanger hatch and communications array first then go after the engines and turrets. Good luck." He switched over to the bridge channel. "Bridge, Panther Leader here we are set to go on your signal."

"Confirmed Panther Leader. Happy Hunting James," replied Jellico. "Operation will start in 5…4…3…2…1…start!"

Upon hearing the word 'start' the crewmen manning the _Valiant's_ dual-barrelled main gun turrets leapt to their duties. As the mega particle cannons fired the beams burst the dummy balloon revealing the AEUG heavy cruiser's presence on the battlefield. The beams were well aimed to pass perilously close to the _Perseus_' bridge in order to spook the crew. One beam got a bit too close and left a vicious scorch mark on the cruiser's dull grey paintwork less than a meter below the bridge windows.

The moment after the red mega particle beams dissipated all six of the Valiant's mobile suits kicked in their thrusters and jetted off the hull. "_I haven't gone into battle like this since A Baoa Qu,_" thought James as his bulky Rick Dias picked up speed, "_Back then I had something a little more lithe._"

The AEUG mobile suits covered the three thousand meters between the two cruisers in no time at all. It was clear that they had taken the Titans ship completely by surprise as there was no reaction at all from the triple-A turrets when James buzzed the bridge. He and Cole both pumped a single adhesive round onto the mobile suit elevator assembly with any luck it would delay the Titans from launching any mobile suits in reply. 

---

Lieutenant Commander Graser was knocked off his feet by the heavy jolt of an impact as he staggered onto the _Persues'_ bridge. "What is the situation?" demanded the gruff central European commander.

"Sir, one rebel cruiser three thousand metres to our stern and six mobile suits are attacking us, sir," reported Masterman as he vacated the command chair for the ship captain to use.

"Why are our mobile suits not deployed yet, Lieutenant?" asked Graser as he dropped into the chair.

"Sir, the enemy mobile suits are using bazookas with some sort of adhesive munitions, sir," replied Masterman calmly. "They have clogged the mobile suit elevator and are already attacking our engines and weapon systems."

"Damn," snarled Graser as he summed up his options. Currently he only really had one option; it sickened him to think he had to go with this choice. "Contact those blasted Republic ships and get them into the battle at once!"

There was a sudden clanking noise and the sound of twisting and ripping metal reverberated though the hull. The communication's officer, who had been carrying out Graser's order, pull his headphones off his ears and addressed the Lieutenant Commander, "Sir, the communications array appears to have been physically removed from the hull. We can not transmit or receive, sir."

Above the Titans officer, standing atop of the _Persues_' command tower, Jason Raynor's Nemo Cannon stamped a few more times.

---

_Earth Federation Space Forces asteroid base Papelotte, Side 3 Border, L2_

Lieutenant Wendy Lockheart did not even try to hide her yawn as she entered the asteroid base _Papelotte's_ control room. She swept a few loose strands of her black hair behind her ears and tried to look awake and alert.

"What's so important that you had to drag me out of bed Takashi?" she asked, it was rather hard to keep the displeasure from her voice.

Lieutenant Takashi Sato turned from his console and gave Wendy a contemptible stare. "Sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, Lockheart, but there is a battle heading our way."

"Fighting all the way out here? You have got to be kidding me!" said Wendy, she pushed past Takashi and punched up his data on one of the larger monitors in the command centre.

Due to the fact that the _Papelotte's_ command centre lacked any gravity both the floor and ceiling had banks of computer stations. One of the side walls had row after row of computer monitors and screens displaying vital information for the smooth running of the base. The opposite wall was a vast window that looked out into space; in the distance it was just about possible to make out the silhouettes of Side 3's colonies.

The _Papelotte_ base had been carved into a reasonably sized asteroid during UC 0081. It had been part of a plan to build a series of bases, along the border of Side 3, that were to act as surveillance posts, patrol supply stations and forward staging areas. The plan was abandoned, after only three asteroid bases were completed, in favour of expanding the space fleet with more of the shrunken _Salamis_ cruisers. As the years passed the _Papelotte_ and its two sisters were largely forgotten by the main EFSF except as a place to dump misfit officers and ratings. Now the base was under the tentative command of Lieutenant Takashi Sato, who had been dumped their after starting a brawl with a pair of Titan Lieutenant Commanders; he had even managed to break one of their legs. His authority, however, was slowly being eroded by the newly posted Lieutenant Wendy Lockheart, commander of the mobile suit forces; she was a combat veteran, older and generally an all round nicer person and because of this he despised her.

"No Space Forces vessels are scheduled to patrol the border," said Wendy more to herself than anyone else. "It must be a Titan ship."

"The Titans all the way out here? They must have really ticked someone off," Takashi offhandedly commented but Wendy ignored him. She couldn't be bothered with his inane prattling this early in the morning. She considered him a contemptuous little man with a seriously inflated ego.

"This is Lieutenant Lockhart to all Magenta Team members report to the hanger immediately," she ordered over the base's internal PA system, "We are going for an early morning stroll."

---

James Keffer could not help smiling to himself. The plan was working surprisingly well. The Titan ship had been taken off guard so completely that hardly any of the turrets had had a chance to fight back. Terizan and Cole were currently disabling the cruiser's engines while Raynor was perched atop the command tower. Keffer sighed, knowing that now he we going to have to act. He landed his Rick Dias on the _Salamis Kai's_ hull and extended an arm to touch the bridge.

"I am Lieutenant James Keffer. In the name of the Anti-Earth Union Group and all soldiers loyal to the true ideals of the Earth Federation I demand that you surrender the vessel immediately," he declared is a care a voice as he could muster under the circumstances. He couldn't exactly make out what was happening on the bridge of the Titans vessel but there appeared to be a fair amount of movement. "Come on now gentlemen. There is no point in resisting we have you surrounded."

At that moment there was a rather large explosion behind Keffer's Rick Dias. The black AEUG mobile suit turned around in time to see the green blur of a Hizack emerging from the cruiser's hanger. The Titans pilot had blown out the jammed hatch using his beam rifle. Keffer couldn't help but admit the audacity that kind of attack required. It did not take very long for the other three Hizacks to exit the hanger; fortunately it did not take the other AEUG mobile suits long to react either. Jason was the first to go on the offensive he took a pot shot with his beam cannons but was unable to hit the fast moving Hizacks. The thrusters on Keffer's Rick Dias flared as the machine kicked off the hull of the Titans cruiser. He spotted that the first Hizack to leave the hanger had looped around and was heading towards him. He realised that the adhesive firing clay bazooka wouldn't be much help; so he pressed the switch on his linear floating seat that triggered the automated sequence that placed the bazooka on its storage rack and brought out a beam pistol.

The Titans pilot had adjusted his attack path so that any missed shots wouldn't hit the cruiser. Keffer quickly found himself having to dodge the Hizack's attacks. It wasn't very difficult since it appeared that the Titan pilot wasn't very skilled; his shots were rapid and undisciplined. However one did come close enough to shave away a few centimetres of Gundarium Gamma from the Rick Dias' right shoulder. Keffer too careful aim with his beam pistol and squeezed off two shots in quick succession. The Hizack avoided the first one but failed to evade the second which blew off one of the vernier pylons from its backpack. This did not deter the Titans pilot who kept on closing despite Keffer's best efforts to lose him.

---

Joel Williams wasn't liking the idea of Hizacks zooming out of the _Salamis Kai_. That hadn't been in the briefing. The Hizacks looks far too similar to the machines he had piloted during the last war. It was a rather strange experience to be a Republic citizen piloting a Federation derived mobile suit against a Zeonic inspired machine. He suspected that in the future he'd need counselling of some sort. Filing that thought away in the back of his mind he turned his full attention to the business of war. 

Apart from the one Hizack that had taken particular interest in Lieutenant Keffer the other three were sticking close together. They were trying to use the bow of the cruiser as cover; understandably so since they were outnumbered. It did make things tricky for the AEUG pilots as they weren't supposed to damage the cruiser. Suddenly two of the Hizacks burst out from around the bow firing their beam rifles indiscriminately. Joel replied in kind but failed to hit anything. The two Hizacks did a very good job causing all the AEUG suits to back off a little bit. Out of the corner of his eye Joel noticed that Lieutenant Cole quickly blasted the leg off one of the Hizacks with his beam launcher. However it appeared that the Hizacks had done what they wanted to do as they both turned about and fled at full burn. It was only then they Joel noticed that the _Salamis_ capsule was escaping the battlefield while being escorted by the remaining Hizack.

---

Zarn was burning with rage. It was bad enough that that insignificant peon Masterman had lectured him on the bridge but now these traitorous dogs were attacking his ship. He lashed out with his Hizack's heat hawk cutting through the black Rick Dias' beam pistol with ease. Zarn knew that the bigger and bulkier AEUG suit was piloted by a veteran. Its movements were smooth and well timed. However that did not stop Zarn making up for his inferior piloting skills with pure enthusiasm and ferocity. The Rick Dias ignited its beam sabre and took a swipe at Zarn causing him to back off slightly. Zarn was no fool, he knew that he was at a distinct disadvantage. His heat hawk was inferior to the beam sabre of the AEUG machine. Silently he cursed the incompetent engineer that had allowed the Hizack to be commissioned without the ability to drive two beam weapons. Zarn made a mental note to have the man shot as soon as he gained enough influence within the Titans. The Rick Dias continued to advance and managed to hack a chunk out of the Hizack's right leg.

The displays in Zarn's cockpit registered the fact that his comrades were leaving the battlefield with the _Salamis_ capsule. However he was not ready to leave yet. With renewed ferocity he charged the Rick Dias once again. His heat hawk might have been inferior but it didn't stop him from cleaving through the AEUG mobile suit's armour. He was able to slip under the Rick Dias's guard and slice off its right arm at the elbow.

His radio crackled into life with the stern voice of Lieutenant Yuri Vedrievich. "Ensign Farris, you had better get scrawny little over here immediately. We are leaving."

"But, sir! I've nearly got this traitor!" replied Zarn with a cry. "This is the leader. Kill him and the others will fall."

"No boy. We don't have time for you the play hero!" yelled the Lieutenant. "There will be plenty of time in the future to kill these Zeon wannabes. But right now we need to regroup."

"Yes, sir," Zarn finally said sullenly. He did not leave, however, without giving the AEUG pilot a parting gift. He swung his heat hawk around and buried it into the Rick Dias' chest at about cockpit height and with that jetted off after his comrades.

---

_AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Side 3 Border, L2_

Captain Alexander Jellico released the clasps on his normal suit's helmet and took it off slowly. The plan had gone well despite the break out by the Titan mobile suits and capsule. He suspected that it had been the Titan command officers in the capsule making a run for it.

"Would someone be so kind as to contact that ship and find someone to surrender it to me," he said with a vague gesture at the _Perseus_.

"Captain, Lieutenant Keffer's machine has suffered damage." reported chief petty officer Clark. He was the crewman in charge of the _Valiant's_ observation teams. In the era of the minovsky particle they played a key roll in space navigation and combat.

"He insists that it is nothing serious," commented the communications officer charged with controlling the _Valiant's_ mobile suit teams.

"I'm sure he would," said Jellico in acceptance of the information, "However I've known him try to continue fighting after loosing both his GM's legs. He too damned stubborn for his own good." There was a brief titter from the bridge crew in response to the captain's remark.

"Sir, I have an Ensign Macormak for you on the _Perseus_." said the communication's officer.

"Thank you," replied the Captain as the grainy image of Ensign Macormak came up on the main monitor. The first thing that Alexander noticed was that the young man wore an EFSF uniform. In his opinion this was a good sign. It meant he wouldn't have to battle with the inflated ego of some Titan punk. "Ensign Macormak how nice of you to speak with me."

"The honour is all mine, sir," the ensign replied meekly. "If anything, sir, it is a relief to have you finally catch us. This ship's former master had been planning to join the AEUG but then the Titans commandeered us in March."

"Is that so?" Alexander was careful not to give too much away. There was always the possibility that this was a Titan trick.

"Yes, sir, it was Lieutenant Commander Wheeler. He has disappeared and we haven't heard anything about him since." said Macormak. "Most of the Titans fled in our capsule but we were able to capture a few of them. We currently have them locked up in our mess hall. The rest of the ship is back under Federation Forces control. I am the senior ranking officer and wish to lead my ship in joining the AEUG."

"I'm sure you do Ensign," replied Alexander. "I will shortly be sending over a party to take command of you vessel. I'm sure you understand that we need to be careful with new recruits."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Captain, but it appears that we have four mobile suits inbound,"

---

As soon as he heard that mobile suits were inbound James was headed straight for them. He brought Marcus and Jason along as support but left the ex-Zeeks guarding the _Valiant_ and it's prize. Deep down he knew it was rather petty of him but he just didn't trust them yet. They were Zeeks and it would take a lot more than a few days for him to truly trust them.

"Sir, should you be out here?" asked Jason. "Your suit is pretty banged up."

"It's fine Jason," replied James calmly. "I've fought in much worse than this."

"Only because you never had proper backup before," commented Marcus. "This war you've got that support James, you don't have to play the hero in every little skirmish."

"Cut the chatter," barked James as the data on the targets came through on his computer. "Looks like a quartet of GM IIs. What the hell are they doing all the way out here."

The GM IIs were advancing at a rather leisurely pace. They certainly were not at combat speed or even in an attacking formation. Before long James was picking up a transmission from the GMs.

"This is Lieutenant Lockhart of the Earth Federation Space Forces to unidentified mobile suits. Please state your purpose in this area of space."

"Are you guys such a backwater unit that your combat computers haven't been updated yet?" asked James on an open channel. "We are driving AEUG mobile suits. Can you guess what we are up too?"

"I just wanted you to admit it yourself," the female Lieutenant Lockhart countered. "Are you going to tell me your name or should I chase down those fleeing Titans and ask them instead?"

"You've got plenty of balls for someone piloting one of those rust bucket GM IIs," said James. "I almost feel sorry for you. I shouldn't give you my name. For all I know this is just a cunning ploy by the Titans to get my name and harass my family. Of course the problem with that is the Titans are too stupid to try something so bold and my family are dead."

By now the AEUG and Federation mobile suits were practically on top of each other but still no hostile action was being taken by either party. There was a natural reluctance on the part of most AEUG pilots when it came to attacking regular EFSF units. They had been on the same side in the past and to some extent still were.

Something finally twigged in James' mind. Something that had been niggling at him from the moment the conversation with the GM leader started. "dren, Wendy how long were you going to keep me hanging here?" 

"Long enough for me to get a look at your suit and make sure it really was you," replied Wendy Lockhart. "That logo of yours really does look daft."

---

It was about half an hour later when James led Wendy into the _Valiant's_ briefing room. Captain Jellico had granted James permission to conduct the negotiation with the Federation forces. It seemed to James that Wendy had barely changed since he had last seen her. She still had her long black hair in a pony tail with that little pink bobble.

"You know for some reason I thought the inside of an AEUG ship would look different," she sat down at one of the desks.

"I didn't know you were a mobile suit pilot," said James carefully. "Heck I didn't know you were still with the Federation Forces."

"It didn't happen over night that's for sure," replied Wendy sternly. "It was a long time before I could walk again and you never came to visit me in the hospital. It got real lonely once you left Luna II for Cambelo. For a while I wasn't sure you were still alive. How you any idea how many J Keffers died at Solomon? There were at least four. Even when the war was over you never came to see me."

"Look I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault," said James defensively. "They had my unit garrisoning A Baoa Qu as soon as they put the fires out. I didn't get transferred back to Luna II until 0081." She seemed at least slightly placated by his reply. "So how are you doing?"

"About as well as can be expected in these times." she said. "I'm stuck on some backwater outpost just because I displeased some Titan hothead. I'm sure thankful that my son is in a safe place."

"A son? Oh god Wendy I had no idea. Congratulations. Who is the father?" He stammered. He was totally surprised by that revelation. He had always thought that Wendy would remain carefree forever. He didn't doubt that she would make an excellent mother but he didn't expect her to become one this early.

"I...ah...I don't know. I found out I was pregnant when I was paralysed." she fidgeted slightly in her chair; obviously uncomfortable with the situation. "I'm telling you it isn't easy to give birth when you are paralysed from the waits down. All I know is the father was someone on Luna II."

"Damn Wendy that could be any number of guys. You were somewhat promiscuous as I recall," said James with sly smirk.

"Well you never said no!" she snapped. "We could have been killed at any time back then. I was just living my life to its fullest."

An unease silence descended on the two old friends as each one contemplated the conversation thus far. "Look I'm sorry," James finally ventured. "I'm sure you don't need a man to help you bring up a child. Hell he'd probably just get in the way."

"And what about you James? What are you doing here on an AEUG ship?" she asked as her brown eyes stared him down.

"I would have thought that was obvious," countered James. "The Titans are a bad thing. Spacenoids are being oppressed. I had to do something."

"What happened to the James Keffer that wanted to reform the Federation peacefully?" asked Wendy. There was quite clearly a barb in a her tongue as she said the words.

"That Keffer is still here. However the Titans are standing in the way of that reform. We need to remove the infection."

"So you are taking up arms against the Federation? And how does that make you any better than the Principality or Delaz?"

James was shocked by her rebuke. How could she possibly class him in the same bracket as those murderers? Had she changed that much in the past seven years? "Someone once said 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Well I like to think of myself as a good man and I will not stand by idle. The Titans are dragging the Federation down into hell and someone has to pull it back. Once we have dealt with the Titans then we will be able to set the Federation back on the straight and narrow."

"And how do you plan on defeating the Titans when they have the entire Space Forces under their control?"

"I'm talking to you aren't I? They might have political control but the rank and file aren't stupid. They know what the Titans are like. They just need our lead," James said with conviction. "We just have to show them that we can beat the Titans in battle. After that they'll see that the blackshirts aren't invincible and that there is a chance of getting rid of them."

"I think you have misplaced faith the Space Forces, James," said Wendy. "It's not what it once was."

"Wendy I've seen the Space Forces charge into the valley of death and come out the other side. They just don't realise what inner strength they have." He paused for a moment to consider his next words. "You should join us. In the AEUG I mean. We could use good people like you and your troops."

"James, I can't do that," said Wendy sternly. "I still have a family I need to protect. I can't risk the safety of my son by running off and playing saviour of the Federation. If the Titans found out I defected they'd seize him without a second thought.

"We might be able to come to some arrangement. Like I said my base in a compete backwater. Most people don't even know we are out here. It's a dumping ground for misfits. I'm sure no one would bat an eyelid if a few more ships started stopping by for supplies. We've got plenty of everything since they keep sending supplies for a complete compliment of personnel even though we have a skeleton crew."

"Oh Wendy you are a real star, you know that?"

"Sure I know. Everyone tells me that."

---

James stepped onto the _Valiant's_ bridge as the quartet of GM IIs lifted off from the hull and headed off towards their base. There were a few less crewmen on the bridge than usual. James assumed that this was because some of them were over on the _Perseus_; getting the ex-Titan ships ready for AEUG service.

"Enjoy your blast from the past, Lieutenant?" asked Captain Jellico. As ever he was seated in his command chair.

"Yes, sir, I did," replied James. "I couldn't get her to join up but at least we know there is a friendly face out here if ever we need one." Jellico nodded by didn't reply. He was busy reading a report. "Where are we headed, sir? I can't imagine we'll be able to move that ship far without someone noticing it."

"Yes that is the problem," said Jellico. "Therefore I have decided to stop off at Sweetwater. They will have the facilities to patch it up and process the crew. I've slaved the _Perseus'_ navigation computer to our own. There will be no record of the coordinates on her system, just in case."

"It feels like an age since we went to Sweetwater," commented James. "It'll be nice to visit somewhere where there is no danger of the Titans jumping us."

Notes:- Edmund Burke, well maybe Burke. No one has actually found this quote in his works but it does sound good and might have been something he said.


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

_Anti-Earth Union Group colony Sweetwater, Somewhere in the vicinity of L2  
17th September UC 0087_

The exact location of the Sweetwater colony was the AEUG's most closely guarded secret. Before the open declaration of hostilities on the Titans, with the raid on Side 7, it had been the only truly safe base for the AEUG. Even after several months of combat and numerous colonies and lunar cities declaring their support for the AEUG there was still a great deal of secrecy around Sweetwater. Sweetwater was still one of the AEUG's principle shipyards and intelligence centres. The small Type-1 colony was now playing host to the crew of the 'Forrestal'-type _Salamis_ heavy cruiser _Valiant_ and the new recruits from the _Perseus_. 

It had been well over a year since Captain Alexander Jellico had last been to the AEUG's ultra secret headquarters. Back then the AEUG hadn't quite been as open about its own existence. The reception area that he was waiting in was rather dull. There were a handful of not very comfortable chairs and a small table with some magazine scattered about it. He could make out some copies of the Anaheim Electronics newsletter and the latest edition of the Von Braun Times. In the corner a secretary was typing away at her computer. It annoyed Alexander that he was being forced to wait. He wanted to get the _Valiant_ turned around and back out on patrol as quickly as possible. He had no idea who Herbert Smyth was but he'd been told to report to Smyth upon docking with Sweetwater. When Alexander had last visited Sweetwater Commodore Forer had been commanding the base personally. Now he hardly knew anyone here.

---

Herbert Smyth did no like his assignment at all. He felt decidedly unsafe. Wong Lee himself had ordered Smyth to come all this way out to Sweetwater as Anaheim's representative at the AEUG colony. The journey had been terrible in a creaky old shuttle that should have been condemned years ago. He felt there had been no need what so ever to blindfold him. As if he was ever going to remember how to find the colony. It was well known at the Von Braun branch of AE that Smyth could get lost on his own floor. Wong Lee had called it an promotion. A position of responsibility at a safe and vital base. As far as he was concerned Sweetwater was anything but safe and horrendously under defended. The permanent defence forces consisted of just two mobile suit squadrons along with a few training squads. Cruisers briefly added to the defence but they rarely stayed long. This was, however, something Smyth planned to rectify. He took his wire-rim glasses off and started to clean then with a small piece of cloth.

"Ms. Dickinson please send the captain in," he said into the small intercom box on his desk. Moments later Captain Jellico was ushered into the office. The first thing that Smyth noted was that the captain was still wearing his standard EFSF uniform. Right down to the brown leather over jacket. From what he'd seen of most AEUG members they chose to modify their uniforms. His records on Jellico stated that he was 29 years old but the man before him was much older; his featured seemed weathered and stern. Merely glancing at his war record gave many answers. The words British, Loum, Solomon, and A Baoa Qu jumped out. Each one sent a shiver down Smyth's spine. Smyth hadn't fought in the last war but he'd heard the stories.

"Captain Jellico, welcome to Sweetwater. I must say I am pleased to have you with us," said Smyth with a smile. "I'm Herbert Smyth. I represent Anaheim Electronics here at Sweetwater."

"Thank you for seeing me so promptly Mr Smyth," replied Jellico with virtually no emotion in his voice. He was getting a distinct feeling that he wasn't going to like Smyth. On the walls of the office there were countless images of the moon and the various Anaheim facilities there. Jellico could tell that Smyth loved Lunar a little too much.

"You have done the AEUG a great service, Captain, by capturing the _Perseus_," said Smyth. He shuffled some papers around his desk and then chose one to look at. "If only all our missions were as successful as yours."

"I carried out the mission as ordered," replied Jellico. "I couldn't have done it without my pilots. They are some of the best we've got. Even the new Zeon recruits performed superbly."

"Well I'm glad that they will be bringing such expertise to our garrison here," said Smyth absentmindedly.

"I'm sorry did you say to the garrison here?" asked Jellico slightly puzzled. "I don't understand."

"I have decided that our defences here at Sweetwater need strengthening," replied Smyth. He looked over the rims of his glasses at Jellico. "From this date forward the _Valiant_ will be joining the garrison. Your pilots can help in the training of our new recruits."

"You can't do that!" snapped Jellico. "The _Valiant_ is a cruiser. She's designed for patrolling. Hell she was specially modified to increase her capabilities as a long range patrol ship. Relegating her to garrison duty is a waste of her abilities and my time."

"The decision has already been made, Captain," replied Smyth darkly. "I told you that I represent Anaheim Electronics and it is the decision of the company that Sweetwater needs better defences. You have your orders captain. See to it that they are carried out."

---

_Republic of Zeon Musai-Kai class cruiser Doric, The Side 3 Border, L2  
18th September_

The heavy airlock doors zuzunged open slowly revealing the survivors from the _Perseus_. They all looked rather unkempt and tired but Lieutenant Commander Graser looked particularly bad. Seemingly the loss of his ship was weighing heavily on his shoulders.

"Welcome gentlemen to the Republic of Zeon cruiser Doric," said Captain Vasilios Royale. He was standing in the cruiser side of the airlock with his vast girth looking resplendent in full Zeon uniform. He could scarcely hide his glee. Opportunities to mock the Titans were few and far between. He planned on taking full advantage of the situation. "I hope that your journey was not too taxing."

"What took you so long in picking us up?" snapped Graser, he might be somewhat bedraggled but he wasn't going to let some Zeek talk down to him. "We've been adrift for days!"

"You were on the Federation side of the border. Surely you know what the penalties are for the Republic ships to cross the border without permission," said Vasilios. "I would not dare to contravene the Granada Accords. So unfortunately we had to wait for an opportunity to report the situation back to fleet command. Then of course it was up to them to pass on the information to your embassy in Zum City. Now that we've got that out of the way I will have someone show you to your quarters. Unfortunately the only spare room we have is in the brig but I assure you they are _quite_ comfortable."

Anger and disgust rippled across Grazer's face. This was no way for a stinking Zeek to treat Titans. "I'll have you rank for this, _captain,_" spat Graser as he prodded the fat Zeon in the chest. "Don't forget that it's thanks to us your stupid republic even exists."

"You should be careful while on my ship Lieutenant Commander," sneered Vasilios. "You are a long way from home and accidents do happen out here in space. I'd hate for one to happen to you."

Graser was slightly taken aback by Vasilios. He had never met a Zeon with enough arrogance to stand up to a Titan. The ones he had met before during a visit to the Titans mission in Zum City had been snivelling little fools with no backbone. He decided to let Vasilios' insolence slide for now. The fat Zeon had at least rescued the survivors from the _Perseus_. Once they were back in Federation territory he would arrange for the captain to be dealt with.

Quietly Graser and the other Titans allowed themselves to be led away by a junior officer. Warren Luther took this opportunity to come out of the shadows where he had been lurking.

"I suppose you are going to tell me I shouldn't have done that," said Vasilios dryly.

"You certainly haven't done any favours for Titan-Zeon relations," commented Luther. "However that does not mean I didn't enjoy it. I don't like the Titans any more than you do Captain. I, however, have my own ways of dealing with them."

"By writing reports?" said Vasilios with disgust. He did not like Luther. The little man was always there quietly taking notes on everything. "What good has a report ever done. No one reads the blasted things."

"That's as maybe Captain but it doesn't mean we should stop writing them," replied Luther. "Our time will come soon."

---

_Titans Asteroid Fortress Gate of Zedan, L3  
28th September_

Lieutenant Commander Graser was seriously starting to dislike waiting. He and his crew had been back at the Gate of Zedan for three days. There had been a scant debriefing on the day of arrival and then nothing. Graser felt as though he had been left to rot. Now, however, he had finally been summoned to appear before Commander Conrad Hohenstaufen, the nominal commanding officer of the Gate of Zedan. Graser supposed it wouldn't be as bad as another encounter with Captain Om. The general opinion of Hohenstaufen was that the balding old man was not really suited to an important command like Zedan. He was known as an administrator rather than a leader of men. During the One Year War Hohenstaufen had been in command of Jaburo's logistics division and while being a logistical genius he hadn't really shown any flare for leading men.

Graser was led into Hohenstaufen's office and told to wait while the commander finished some business. The office was surprisingly ornate by Graser's judgement. Liberal use of wood had been applied to the walls presumably to try and make it feel a little less like a box inside of a giant rock.

"So you are Franz Graser then," said Hohenstaufen as he looked up from the documents on his oak desk. "Captain Om gave me instructions to deal with you. Apparently he is busy with something else and couldn't attend to you himself. Please be seated."

"Thank you, sir," Graser said as he took the offered seat. His features had tightened at the mention of the name Om but he didn't think the old man had noticed.

"I am afraid I have rather bad news for you Lieutenant Commander. Captain Om was most displeased to here about the loss of the _Perseus_. We need every ship we can get during these trying times. There will of course be a full investigation into the events that led up to the loss of the _Perseus_."

"If I may ask, sir, who will head the investigation?" asked Graser calmly.

"What? Oh I believe it is going to be Lieutenant Dukas from the intelligence division," replied Hohenstaufen as he shuffled through some papers. "Naturally you and your men will be needed for questioning and the like so you will all be confined to your quarters until further notice."

"Commander I really don't see the need for that! We are not criminals!" Graser half-shouted the words before he realised that the probably shouldn't even spoken. Hohenstaufen might be old and a marginal figure in the Titans but he could cause Graser's life to be a misery.

"As I said you will all be confined to quarters. All except Zarn Farris. Doctor Mooro has requested that the boy be returned to his care," said the commander with a slight wheeze. "I have approved the requested. There is no sense in having a valuable test subject wasted."

"Are you suggesting that myself and my crew aren't valuable, sir?" snapped Graser

"Lieutenant Commander you had your ship stolen from right beneath your feet," replied Hohenstaufen as his eyes narrowed to stare at Graser intently. "You have been disgraced and humiliated. You are of little value to yourself right now let alone the Titans. Now I suggest you go to your room and await judgement."

---

_Corregidor Shoal Zone, L2,  
3rd October_

Flying through shoal zones always gave Jason Raynor the creeps. It felt like he was stepping on people's graves. The Corregidor shoal zone still had lots of debris that was all too recognisable as parts of colonies. Earlier he had passed by an entire apartment block hanging dead in space. Unfortunately this was the only place near by that the AEUG could come to and do training. Even with Sweetwater's hidden location it was still too risky to perform training flights near by. So the trainee AEUG pilots were loaded onto transports and quietly shipped to Corregidor.

Being part of the Sweetwater garrison the _Valiant's_ pilots were expected to spend time helping to train new pilots. Thus it was Jason's turn to fly around the shoal zone while a bunch of rookies tried to hit him. It had been rather amusing the previous week when Lieutenant Keffer had joined in. The veteran pilot had made mincemeat out of the luckless trainees. He had then given them a three hour debriefing during which he explained that they were all rubbish and should go back to whatever colony they came from. Jason knew that the lieutenant had been trying to do them a favour. He could generally tell what sort of person would make a good pilot.

A beam sailed past to his left indicating that the trainees had finally caught up with him. Jason had to admit that they weren't very good. They were all kids from colonies that had never seen war and thought that piloting mobile suits was a great game. He was beginning to think that they had little interest in the political goals of the AEUG, they just wanted a chance to fight against the Titans and the Federation at large.

Firing his apogee motors in the right order he turned his Nemo Cannon a full hundred and eighty degrees. Dropping a finger on his trigger he fired off a couple of volleys from the shoulder mounted cannons on his mobile suit. He deliberately missed the trailing Nemos but it was enough to scatter them quite effectively. It was quite shocking that the trainees hadn't caught Jason yet. His Nemo Cannon had reduced performance compared to the standard Nemos. Jason assumed that either the trainees really were crap or he was just a fine pilot. He'd had some pretty good teachers over the years Lieutenant Keffer had passed on a few tricks.

---

_Republic of Zeon Musai-Kai class cruiser Doric, The Side 3 Border, L2  
14th October_

The small alarm clock mounted on the wall above Warren Luther's bed started it's shrill beeping. Warren himself wasn't sleeping despite it being "night-time" on the _Doric_. He leaned over from where he was seated at the desk and deactivated the alarm. It was finally time. He had to admit that he had mixed feelings about the final part of his mission. He had enjoyed his time working for the Republic Assembly. It had given him the chance to lead a comparatively normal life if only for the last six months. There was also the minor issue of Susan back in Core 3. She'd been a lovely lady and he had felt a little bad lying to her. He made a mental note to arrange for her to be provided for once Side 3 was back under control.

Warren picked up his rather small duffel bag from the corner of the room. It had been packed for hours. Time had dragged at a snail's pace while he'd waited for the prearranged timeslot. He locked his door as he exited the cabin he'd lived in for the last three months. There was no sense in letting any of the _Doric's_ crew think any suspect was going on.

It did not take Warren very long to reach to the pilot's locker room next to the hanger. It was a small room to fit the small number of pilots the _Doric_ carried. Luckily for Warren there was a spare pilot's suit. He had been half worried that he would have had to use a normal suit instead.

---

The security in the _Doric's_ hanger was very lax. Warren did not find this very surprising. From what he'd seen of the Republic military it was pretty complacent when it came to border patrols. It wasn't as if the Federation was going to make trouble so border patrol was a low priority and therefore was considered an "easy" assignment where nothing happened. 

The one thing they probably were not expecting was for the Republic Assembly representative on mission to steal a Rick Dom. However that was exactly what was happening. Warren skipped most of the start up procedure for the Rick Dom. He knew the machine was in good condition though he still wasn't used to the panoramic screen. He had only tried a panoramic screen a couple of times and each time he had felt somewhat overwhelmed. This, however, was not the time to dwell on such things.

A few strokes on the Rick Dom's control board activated to virus Warren had hidden within the _Doric's_ main computer. It override all the safely protocols and opened the hanger doors. Once the doors were open wide enough the clamps holding the Rick Dom in place released and let the bulky machine leave the hanger under it's down power.

"Luther! What the hell do you think you are doing!" Captain Vasilios Royale's voice bellowed through the radio. Immediately Warren regretted not deactivating the _Doric's_ communications array.

"I'm stealing a Rick Dom you fat idiot," retorted Warren. "What does it look like I'm doing?

"How dare you speak to me like that!" roared Royale. "Return this instant or I will have you shot!"

"No my dear idiotic captain. It is not I who will be shot. It is you," said Warren as he lined up his giant bazooka. "Glory to the Space Attack Force, Glory to the Principality and Glory to Princess Mineva Lao Zabi!"

Before Royale got a chance to reply Warren fired off six rounds from his giant bazooka into the unprotected hanger. The initial explosion destroyed much of the command structure. Then secondary explosions rippled through the rest of the hull until all that was left of the _Doric_ was burning debris.

Warren checked his instruments and then estimated his approximate position based on the location of main landmarks of the Moon and Side 3. Happy that he vaguely knew where he was he took the Rick Dom over the border into Federation space and headed for his destination.

---

It took about two hours to reach his destination but that didn't bother Warren. What was important was that he got there. Hidden amongst a cloud of dummy asteroids was a ship. It was green and its basic shape was similar to that of the _Doric_. However it was quite different in many ways. For a start it was a lot bigger and second its armaments were far more formidable. The most striking difference was the fact that it was an Axis Zeon ship.

"_Mirandra_ control this is Warren Luther requestion permission to land," Warren asked over the communications channel he'd been told to use.

"Luther this is the _Mirandra_ you are clear to land on catapult one," said an all to familiar voice.

"Why Storm Lord, you didn't have to come out all this way just to pick me up," replied Warren with a smile on his face. "You could have sent one of your minions to do it."

"You are the best minion I've got Warren," retorted Commander Anthony Curran. "I've got to look after you. Welcome back my friend."

---


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

_Axis Zeon Endra-class cruiser Mirandra, The Side 3 Border Region, L2  
15th October UC 0087_

There was a polite knock on the door to Commander Anthony Curran's personal wardroom. As fitting his status as the _Mirandra's_ captain Anthony's wardroom was surprisingly spacious and rather luxurious when compared with the rest of the ship. As well as the usual dinning table there was also a set of sofas and even a dartboard. On the walls was a selection of art from some of the most prominent artists in Side 3 from before the War of Independence. One of Anthony's favourites was Walter Heim's evocative oil painting of early colony construction. It served to remind him of the fragility of the colonies.

There was, however, still knocking at the door so Anthony finally responded and allowed the person to enter. Seeing that it was his old friend Warren Luther he leapt up from his seat to shake Warren's hand.

"Warren it is so good to see you again properly," said Anthony offering a seat to his friend. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk properly yesterday but you know how it is. Operating within Federation territory is still somewhat risky so it is demanding a lot of my attention."

"There is no problem sir, it gave me an opportunity to freshen up," replied Warren.

"Please, Warren, none of that sir crap. There is no need for formalities between us. We've known each other too long for that," insisted Anthony.

"As you wish. I must say Anthony you are doing rather well for yourself," commented Warren. "This ship is rather more impressive than that old rust bucket of a _Musai_ you were driving when I last saw you."

"Yes she is a fine ship isn't she," said Anthony proudly. He hadn't expecting getting the _Mirandra_ at all. There had been plenty of far better qualified people above himself on the pecking order. Apparently Lady Karn herself had something to do with his selection. "She was fresh off the construction line when I got her. Of course that meant it took us a month to get her space worthy and then another three weeks training the additional crew members. Dear god they were awful. I swear they are recruiting kids nowadays."

"Are things that bad at Axis?" asked Warren as he took a sip from the drink provided for him by the serving staff that were hovering around at the back of the room.

"There is still overcrowding although the officials refuse to acknowledge it," replied Anthony. "They have been increasing the recruitment recently though I suspect it is just alleviate the pressure on civilian housing by cramming recruits into the barracks."

"I recall some talk of trying to repatriate civilians to Side 3 upon our official return to the Earth Sphere," said Warren. "I didn't hear anything about it while working for the assembly. But of course they were all petrified of the mere idea of Axis returning."

"From what I understand. There is going to be no repatriation program until Lady Karn has secured our complete control of Side 3," said Anthony. "Frankly it's a bloody stupid idea. We need to offload as many of the civilians as we can."

"So enough of this dreary business. How is your good loving wife?" asked Warren.

"Oh please Warren you know full well that love has nothing to do with my relationship with Maria," replied Anthony sharply. "The only thing she loves about me is my rank of Commander and all the privileges that gets her."

His marriage to Maria Seaward a year and a half previously had not been a matter of love. It was a marriage ordered by the Axis government. A decree had been passed to ensure the future manpower supply of Zeon and thus all eligible males and females were duty bound to provide as many children as possible. The policy was causing a childcare nightmare back at Axis but that was something Anthony did not have to deal with. His union with Maria had produced a son for the regime. However Anthony had not seen his now eight month old son, named William by his mother, since the day he was born. Anthony had rather mixed feelings about the child. Naturally he was proud to be a father however the boy had not been conceived out of any love between the parents. If anything he felt rather sad for William having to grow up in a world where conflict was constant.

"Even so she is very attractive," commented Warren. "You got lucky there. You could have ended up with a real dog of a woman like poor old Fettel did."

The conversation was disrupted by a knock at the door. Anthony beckoned the knocker to enter and Warren noted it was a rather young looking crewman.

"Sorry to disturb you Commander but we have just received a coded transmission from headquarters," reported the crewman as he held out the printout.

"Thank you Miles you are dismissed," Anthony took the printout and began reading it while Crewman Miles made a quiet exit. "Seems like our lords and masters want us to do a spot of snooping."

"Oh?"

"Yes. They want us to spend some time investigating the Corregidor shoal zone," said Anthony. "Intelligence suggests that the AEUG are using the area. They want us to find out what for."

"From what I understand they used it to train some of their pilots," replied Warren. "The Republic managed to infiltrate a spy into the AEUG. The mission was to find out if they really were trying to restore the Zabi family like the Titans have been saying. He spent some times at their Sweetwater base and did training in the shoal zone. Naturally he never found out where Sweetwater is exactly but he did recognise Corregidor."

"Is this spy still in the AEUG?" asked Anthony.

"No. He was killed during the AEUG's attack on Jaburo." replied Warren. "A shame really. He was quite a nice chap."

"Well no matter. If it is used for training we will do a quick fly by. I can't image any trainees causing us any problems."

---

_AEUG transport ship Queen of Von Braun, The Corregidor Shoal Zone, L2,  
20th October_

The _Queen of Von Braun_ had quite a small crew area when compared with other transport ships like the Federation's _Columbus_ class. It was after all only a transport ship more suited to inter-Side commerce. This annoyed Lieutenant Marcus Cole quite a lot. It was rather difficult to do training missions in such cramped conditions. The _Queen of Von Braun_ had more than enough room to carry the six GM IIs of the trainees along with his own GM Sniper Custom and Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias. However that impressive carry capacity came at the expense of the crew quarters. It was fortunate that Sweetwater was only a few hours away from the shoal zone he hated to think what it would be like spending several days on the _Queen of Von Braun_.

The metal door to the supply room that was doubling as a briefing room slid open and Marcus walked inside. The room was occupied by the six trainees pilots. They were all young and completely inexperienced when it came to mobile suit piloting. All but one of them were spacenoids who hadn't even tried piloting a mobile pod. The one who did have mobile pod experience was a lunarian who had briefly worked the docks in Granada. Half of the group were women. Personally Marcus thought that women shouldn't have to fight and that it was a man's job. They had improved a lot since Marcus had first met them but, unlike the group being shepherded by Jason Raynor, they hadn't advanced as far as trying Nemos yet.

"Okay everyone I'm glad to see you are all wide awake," he said as he moved to the front of the room. "Today we will be making another run through the shoal zone. Unlike last time however this will be a live fire exercise. Yes you heard me right it has been decided that you lot are ready to fire live ammunition." There was a general murmur of excitement through the group. They had been dying for a chance to try out real combat. "Lieutenant Keffer has kindly volunteered to go into the zone first to seed a series of automated drones. The drones are armed with low power beam guns. Make no mistake they are still powerful enough to destroy your GM IIs so don't piss around while you are out there. Now Lieutenant Keffer and myself will be in the zone throughout just in case anything goes wrong and you need help." 

---

Pilot trainee Arnold Dent eased his GM II off the crude deck of the _Queen of Von Braun_. With careful thruster control he set off into the debris field. Around him his fellow trainees were spreading out. They were all determined to be the first one to get a 'kill' on one of the drones. Arnold especially so he didn't want to be upstaged by one of the women in the group. He thought they were acting a bit too big for their boots. He was particularly annoyed with Raima Sen she was a stubborn, stuck up little cow of Indian decent. She was continually undermining Arnold's position within the group. Just because she had a little experience in piloting a mobile pod she acted like she was somehow superior. 

After fifteen minutes of flying the sensors on his GM II recorded an explosion roughly ten kilometers away across the debris field. Arnold swore loudly when the computer displayed who had scored the first kill. It was that bitch Raima. He knew he'd never live this down. Raima was the sort of person who'd rub it in whenever she got the opportunity too.

Arnold hammered his foot down on his main thruster peddle. He used far more force than was really necessary and it caused his GM II to rocket through the debris field faster than was safe to do so. In the back of his mind the rational portion of Arnold's personality knew he was being far too reckless in an environment that was potentially deadly. However it was the irrational and very angry part of his mind that was apparently giving the orders. As such he was rather surprised when he looped around a wrecked _Salamis_ class cruiser and came face to face with one of the drones.

The drone fired both of its beam guns at once. The short red beams struck the GM II's shield as Arnold was able to position it just in time. The thin layer of anti-beam coating on the shield prevented it from being totally destroyed but Arnold knew that it would virtually useless against any other beam attacks. To prevent having to worry about that he quickly aimed his beam rifle and fired. The first beam shot tore through the drone's video camera targeting system. The next two shots ripped through the main body of the drone causing it to explode.

Arnold felt triumphal satisfaction sweep through his body. The computer confirmed that he was the second person to destroy a drone. It might not be first place but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately for Arnold that feeling did not last long as he computer reported that six unidentified mobile armours were approaching his general area. As they came into visual range he noted that they looked like flying claws and that five of them were bright pink. The last one of painted black and yellow. Suddenly Arnold felt very alone.

---

The six Gaza-Cs from the _Mirandra_ slowly encircled the hapless GM II. For all but one of the Axis Zeon pilots this was their first encounter with a mobile suit that wasn't home grown. Anthony Curran was, of course, a veteran of countless mobile suit battles. He had racked up thirteen mobile suit and sixteen mobile pod kills during the One Year War during some of the bitterest fighting. It annoyed Anthony that his pilots were so green. He knew full well that the AEUG had been fighting the Titans for months now and they were certain to be building up lots of experience.

"What should we do with this one Commander?" asked Justin Sleet. It was an interesting question Anthony had to admit. Their orders had been to observe the AEUG training regime within the shoal zone. It didn't mention anything about contact with the enemy. They had quite unintentionally stumbled upon the lone GM.

"We can not allow the AEUG to know that we have penetrated this close to their headquarters," said Anthony. "Mr Sleet you have permission to terminate the target."

"Y-yes sir!," stammered Sleet. His voice was full with the strange combination of fear and excitement. 

Anthony wondered whether he had ever sounded like that. Eventually he decided that he must have. These young pilots were getting a positively tame introduction to mobile suit warfare. His first mission had been Loum. He still suffered from the nightmares.

Justin Sleet activated the transformation function on his Gaza-C. The pink machine swiftly changed from mobile armour mode to the tall and lanky mobile suit mode. The other Gaza-Cs backed off partly to give Sleet room to work and partly to make sure they were outside of the blast radius. The main thing that Justin would remember about his first kill was that the GM II didn't even react when he fire his knuckle buster. There was no attempt to dodge or block the shot. Justin rationalised the odd behaviour by believing that the enemy pilot was even greener than he was.

---

Lieutenant James Keffer's black Rick Dias stood on the shattered engine pylon of a _Musai_ cruiser. The majority of the debris in the Corregidor shoal zone were the remnants of colonies and captured Federation vessels. During the One Year War the Principality of Zeon used the shoal zone as a testing ground for both pilots and machines. Now of course there was a lot of Zeon debris mixed in as well. After the war efforts had been made to try and clean up the space lanes which resulted in existing shoal zones getting more debris dumped into them.

None of this bothered James Keffer as he was currently snoozing lightly. He couldn't explain it but lately he had been feeling abnormally tired. The _Valiant's_ doctor hadn't been able to find anything wrong with him and suggested it might be a mental problem. By his nature James was a man of action. He thrived in an dynamic environment of action. Therefore the garrison duty at Sweetwater was severely hampering his normal life style. The only thing that resembled excitement, if you could call it that, came during training missions and they were pretty grim.

"_Queen of Von Braun_ to Lieutenant Keffer please respond," the voice of the control aboard the transport ship rattled around the Rick Dias' cockpit. They were more than loud enough to wake James.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and scanned his controls and monitor.

"We've lost contact with one of the trainees. Dent's GM disappeared shortly after destroying a drone. It's possible the debris is blocking our signals," reported the _Queen of Von Braun_. "Please check out the area and see what is happening."

"Roger that _Queen_. I'll go find your errant schoolboy," James eased his Rick Dias off the damaged _Musai_. The attack mobile suit's thrusters flared briefly to provide sufficient momentum to push it deeper into the debris field.

It took James about ten minutes to reach Dent's last know coordinates. At first nothing seemed unusual. He spotted the wreckage of a drone easily enough and he was about to move on when something caught his attention. There was a damaged GM foot slowly rotating a few meters away from a wrecked _Salamis_. It was green, the same shade of green used by the AEUG.

"Damnit," James muttered under his breath as he quickly discovered more bit of Dent's GM II scattered around the area. Judging from the level of damaged he could tell that it wasn't a drone that destroyed the GM. Something far more powerful was lurking in the shoal zone. Unsurprisingly his thoughts darted back to August but he put them to rest immediately. There couldn't possibly be another one those _things_. Either way he wasn't having much luck with subordinates and shoal zones lately.

"_Queen of Von Braun_ this is Keffer. Dent's dead. His GM II has been destroyed." reported James. "Order all the trainees back to you. There is something powerful in here with us."

"At once sir!" was the reply from the transport ship's communications officer.

He switched his communications channel over to his squad frequency. "Cole we've got trouble. Dent is dead. I want you to cover the trainees as they evacuate,"

"My god, that's terrible." replied Cole. "What about you sir? Do you think it was the Titans?"

"It could be. I'm going to investigate," said James as he piloted his Rick Dias through the debris field. "I'll catch up with the rest of you."

"Roger that sir, good luck!"

---

Raima Sen felt sick. She was shocked to hear of Dent's death. Less than half an hour ago she'd been teasing him in the locker room on the _Queen_. Now he was dead. He might have been an annoying and highly strung individual but she had considered him a comrade in arms. Of course she knew that in war people died. However when one of those people was someone you knew quite well it suddenly brought the severity of the whole situation into focus.

Suddenly a powerful beam rocketed past Raima's GM II. It missed by little more than a metre. Raima screamed and without thinking threw her GM off in some random direction. That blind manoeuvring saved her life as the next shot passed through where the GM had been. When she recovered her composure enough he turned around to see where the attacks had come from. Six strange mobile armours were approaching through the debris field. For some reason they reminded her of the crabs she had seen during her visit to Earth eight years ago. She didn't wait to find out who they belonged to. She just began firing her beam rifle. 

One of the mobile armours broke off from the rest and closed in on her. It was not deterred by her attempted attacks. This mobile armour was different from the other as it was painted black and yellow. To her surprise as it approached it transformed into a mobile suit. Finally she was able to land a shot on the new mobile suit however it simply shrugged off the shot from the GM IIs glorified beam water pistol. She fully expected to by join Arnold Dent at any moment so it came as something of a shock to see Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias appear from nowhere and shoulder barged the black and yellow mobile suit.

Keffer's voice crackled over Raima radio moment later. "Withdraw at once Raima. I'll deal with this."

It took her a few moment to recover and remember herself. "But sir, I can't leave you."

"I said withdraw! That's an order trainee!" bellowed Keffer. "You are no good to me in that piece of excuse for a machine."

"Yes sir!"

As Raima's GM II retreated James positioned his Rick Dias between her and the mobile armours. Just looking at them he had a feeling that they were not Titans machines. They certainly weren't from the Federation or the Republic. That left just one candidate. That black and yellow mobile suit was worrying him as well. The last time he had seen that black and yellow chequered pattern had been at the Battle of A Baoa Qu. Some people within the Federation Forces had given it the nickname Storm Lord on account of its storm-like ferocity in battle. Only later, much later, did James learn that the Storm Lord was in fact Anthony Curran his old childhood friend from Side 5.

James' hand darted over his communication panel turned off all the encryption software and opened a channel. "Hello Anthony. We haven't spoken in some time."

---

Of course Anthony recognised the voice. It was impossible to forget. It did however take him by surprise. After all what were the chances of them meeting again like this after all these years? Anthony did not believe in God but sometimes he did wonder if there was _something_ up there pulling the strings. 

"Well who'd have thought it. The Federation's little pawn all the way out here," Anthony sneered. "What is the great defender of the Federation doing in the AEUG?"

James didn't reply. Anthony had his Gaza-C slowly circle around the black AEUG mobile suit. His computer identified it as a Rick Dias.

"Could it be that you've finally come around to my point of view," said Anthony. "You understand now that the only way to make the Federation act is through violence."

"You are wrong Anthony. As a member of the Federation Forces it is my duty to protect the Federation from all enemies both external and internal." said James finally. He knew it was a risky strategy but if he could keep Anthony talking that might give the trainees time to escape. "The Titans are oppressing the spacenoid population and that has to be stopped. The AEUG aren't trying to overthrow the Federation. We just want to stop the Titans."

"But what has happened to your much vaunted democracy?" demanded Anthony. "You told me once that the Federation could solve all its problems through the Assembly. Are you not usurping the Assembly's power with your military action?"

"I won't deny that the Federal Assembly has lost its way," replied James. "It merely needs setting back on the right track."

"Commander what should we do about the other AEUG mobile suits?" asked Justin Sleet on a private channel.

"Hunt them down and kill them," ordered Anthony. "They do not deserve to live."

"Yes sir!"

"James you are more a fool now than you have ever been," said Anthony conversationally. All around him the other Gaza-Cs were starting to move. The Rick Dias didn't move. "Even though you are presented with irrefutable evidence of the Federation's terminal corruption you still cling to these foolish ideals of democracy. Your precious Federation created the Titans. They are you own devil and the only way you can defeat them is to take up arms against the Federation."

"The Federation only created the Titans in response to spacenoid terrorism. You can not blame people for wanting to protect themselves." replied James. He was concerned about the leaving Axis mobile suits but there wasn't anything he could do about them. Without information on these machines he had no idea if he'd be able to take down even one of them let alone six.

"You are defending the actions of the Titans?" asked Anthony. There was a mixture of surprise and disbelief in his voice. "Those butchers?"

"Of course not. I'm merely saying that I understand the reasoning for their existence," countered James. "Yeah they are butchers but they learnt all the tricks of the trade from your Principality."

"You should be careful of what you say my old friend," said Anthony as he levelled his knuckle buster at the Rick Dias. "Your mobile suit might be fat with armour but I bet it can't withstand this."

It was Keffer that fired first. The round streaked out of the Rick Dias' clay bazooka and struck the shield protecting the Gaza-C's left arm. As the explosion cleared it was obvious that the Axis mobile suit was not badly damaged. The shield had be rendered more or less useless but the arm still operated. Anthony replied by firing his knuckle buster but Keffer had already started evasive manoeuvres.

---

The green and white GM II for Raima Sen sped as fast as it could through the debris field towards the _Queen of Von Braun_. To say that she was desperate was something of an understatement. Through the minovsky interference her radar was showing the five mobile armours gradually catching up with her. So far she'd worked out that they were much faster than her GM but there manoeuvrability was terrible. They kept having to go around dense pockets of debris rather than weaving through them. This was pretty much the only advantage she had.

"Raima can you hear me? This is Lieutenant Cole. Where is Lieutenant Keffer?" The words came as a massive relief to Raima. If communications were coming through this clear then she had to be close to the _Queen_.

"I-i don't know sir. He told me to retreat while he held them up," she stammered. "There are five of these strange transforming mobile armours behind me. I think Lieutenant Keffer is holding up their leader."

"Just keep them coming." ordered Cole. "We've got something special planned."

"Yes Sir!"

The remaining minutes it took to reach the _Queen_ dragged for an eternity. It was however resolutely worth it. As she rounded a wrecked _Magellan_ the _Queen of Von Braun_ was a welcome sight indeed. However she could only see Lieutenant Cole's old GM Sniper Custom. The other trainees in their GM IIs were nowhere to be seen. Cole's suit was standing on the main hold of the _Queen_ with his beam launcher at the ready. It was about that time when Raima worked out Cole's plan. Unfortunately it meant that she had to be the bait but considering what was happening that wasn't really all that surprising. The assumption was that the enemy would be concentrating on Raima's GM too much to notice Cole's sniper mobile suit or that the other four GM IIs were concealed in the debris ready to spring an ambush.

Right on cue the five mobile armours rounded the same _Magellan_ that Raima had just passed. Raima's GM II peeled off to the left and at the same time Cole fired. With pin point accuracy the beam launcher's shot caught the first pink mobile armour right in the middle of it's groin. The armour plating held up against the onslaught for a moment or two but eventually buckled. The beam launcher was a lot more powerful than the GM II's rifle and therefore the enemy mobile armour didn't stand a chance. It seemingly started to disintegrate before finally exploding. In reaction to this the pink mobile armours attempted to scatter. However despite the impressive speed the mobile armours had decidedly unimpressive manoeuvrability. Cole didn't expect to hit anything with his second shot in these situations you rarely did. However this time it scorched down the topside of one of the mobile armours. The enemy mobile weapon was far from destroyed but it now had a lengthy burn mark.

"Now everyone attack!" ordered Cole. Moments later the four hidden GM IIs emerged from their hiding places.

---

A stray beam shot hit the forward magazine of the derelict EFSFS cruiser _Hinchinbrook_. The rushing torrent of mega particles ignited ancient munitions from a conflict long dead. The _Hinchinbrook's_ tortured superstructure finally gave up trying to hold the ship together as a series of terminal explosions raced through the hull for the second time in eight years. The _Hinchinbrook's_ explosive second death played backdrop to the dual of two other relics of that long dead war.

James fired the last round from his clay bazooka at Anthony's machine. However the Axis pilot was able to avoid it with a careful side movement. Cursing as he did so James threw the now useless bazooka away and pressed the button on his floating seat to switch to a beam pistol. As an afterthought he also grabbed a beam sabre with his suit's free hand but didn't activate it yet. The enemy machine fired its powerful beam cannon-like primary weapon again. James avoided the shot and returned fire with his beam pistol.

Neither pilot was making any headway. Anthony was able to overcome his machine's technological weaknesses with sheer piloting experience but it still lagged behind the Rick Dias. James was forced to admit it had been quite some time since he had faced an opponent with so much skill and experience. Therefore he wasn't faring as well as he would normally. He supposed that it might also have something to do with the pilot he was facing. During the One Year War he had sworn to kill Anthony for his crimes and had gone on to fight him a couple of times however he had never actually known it was Anthony. Now when the time finally came it was a quite strange feeling.

"What's wrong Panther something got your teeth?" sneered Anthony. James found it quite surprising that the radio was still working.

"Just warming up!" grunted James. He fired a snap shot that grazed the Axis mobile suit's left leg. "I wouldn't want this moment to fade too quickly."

The two machines twisted and turned trying to get a better vantage point. They zoomed in and out of wreckage from the war that had destroyed their lives. It was a chilling reminder to both of them when a stray shot hit a ruined _Salamis_. A still airtight compartment must have been breached as a half dozen limp normal suited bodies were sprayed out into the debris field. The next shot from Anthony's knuckle buster finally struck home. As it did so it tore off the Rick Dias' right leg entirely.

---

Scott Forrest could spot a disadvantageous situation from a mile off and he was right in the middle of one. The death of Steve Bokkes to the very first shot of the engagement had unnerved all the Axis pilots. They had all been to the academy together and had been friends. Now Bokkes was dead and the rest of his team mates were scurrying for their lives. Scott couldn't understand it. They'd been told that the AEUG were training new recruits in the shoal zone but the GM IIs were able to keep the Gaza-Cs separated. All the Axis training had been centred around tight formations of many mobile suits. Not only did this allow them to maximise firepower but also gave protection to the inexperience pilots.

The blasted AEUG sniper fired again. It's powerful beam came ruinously close to Scott's engines. Fortunately it didn't cause any damage but it was enough to shred the last remnants of his morale. He didn't even bother to inform his comrades of his decision he just took off in the direction of the _Mirandra_. Before long he was joined by the rest of the Axis mobile suits.

---

Anthony smiled at the sight of the Rick Dias loosing it's leg. There was something about the AEUG machine that was ever so slightly unsettling. It reminded him far too much of the Rick Dom. He readied himself to fire another shot to finish off the damaged suit. However he was caught by surprise as the Rick Dias was far from finished. It's beam pistol flared three times. The only one shot hit the Gaza-C, striking it on the right shoulder. The more worrying thing however was the fact that the Rick Dias was heading straight at Anthony at full thrust with it's beam sabre activated. Naturally Anthony tried to evade but it was far too late. He cursed the lacklustre manoeuvring capabilities of the Gaza-C as the beam sabre was plunged into its chest. Anthony wasted no time in triggering the ejector system that sent the Gaza-C's cockpit zooming safely from the dying mobile suit.

The black AEUG mobile suit lost its right arm as the Gaza-C exploded. James having neglected to let go of the beam sabre quickly enough. Anthony did not see this as he drifting cockpit was picked up by one of the retreating Gaza-Cs. The Axis Zeon forces were retreating with their collective tails between their legs.

---

_Axis Zeon Endra-class cruiser Mirandra, The Corregidor Shoal Zone, L2_

Anthony Curran sat on a bed in the _Mirandra's_ infirmary. His green officer's jacket was draped over his shoulders as an attractive young nurse was applying a bandage to his head. He had received a minor injury while rattling around inside his cockpit. The main doors to the infirmary opened and in walked Warren Luther. The black haired intelligence office came to a stop by Anthony's bed and stood wit his hands clasped behind his back.

"I will get revenge for this insult Warren," said Anthony bitterly. "I am going to make James Keffer suffer."

"Of course sir," replied Warren. "We will make it our top priority. What are we to do with the pilots, sir? They all ran away."

"Half rations for a month and combat exercises five times a day with live ammunition," declared Anthony. "They too will suffer the consequences of their actions."

---


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

_Titans Asteroid Fortress, Gate of Zedan, L3  
1st November UC 0087_

The board of inquire was a formidable sight. Commander Hohenstaufen was chairing the proceedings but the rest of the board was made up of hard faced officers from the Kilimanjaro Base. It all made Lieutenant Commander Graser rather uncomfortable. Other than Hohenstaufen none of the board had spent much more than a few weeks in space and none of them had experience combat in space. Graser suspect that he would not be getting any sort of sympathy vote from them. So far during the conflict with the AEUG some officers had escaped judgement for their failings. Rumour had it that he was going to be made an example of. This distressed Graser deeply. He did not consider himself at fault. As far as he was concerned it was his crew that had been incompetent. They had failed to detect the AEUG presence and had then failed to repulse the attacks. Those contemptible Space Forces drones had betrayed him.

"Lieutenant Commander Franz Graser this board of inquire has reached a verdict," said Commander Hohenstaufen. "It has been determined that the EFSFS _Perseus_ was lost due to systemic incompetence across all departments; especially in the case of the senior officers. This incompetence led to the _Perseus_ being taken into a dangerous situation without proper safeguards being put into place."

Graser considered arguing but stopped himself in time. The board did not look as thought it was in a forgiving mood. He reasoned it would probably be best to take their judgement now and complain bitterly about it later. It was true that his performance during the last mission had not been perfect but he would hardly called it systemic incompetence.

"Taking into account your war record and years of diligent service this board of inquire has decided to forgo a dishonourable discharge," Hohenstaufen continued. "You will be demoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and reassigned to the asteroid supply base Hougourmont."

"But sir! That's a Federation Forces base you can't send me there!" interrupted Graser. It was an inadvisable outburst but the thought having to serve with more Space Farce fools was appalling.

"Be quiet lieutenant," Hohenstaufen spat the rank out as if it was mouldy bit of cheese. The old man could be surprisingly fierce when he wanted to be. "You are lucky to be still wearing that uniform. If it were up to me alone you would never be able to hold a position of authority ever again. At Hougourmont you will be under the command of Doctor Mooro. You will be assisting him in his continuing weapons research. The 185th mobile suit team will be joining up. They are as incompetent as you are. You may go now lieutenant."

"Y-yes sir," managed Graser. He was shaken to the core. But that quickly passed and was replaced with burning rage. This situation was intolerable. Mooro's blasted newtype project had been the start of all his problems. It was like a millstone around his neck that he just couldn't get rid of. He vowed there and then that he would get his revenge one way or another.

---

_Earth Federation Space Forces asteroid base Hougourmont, Side 3 Border, L2_

Doctor Mooro surveyed the facilities of his new base of operations. They were, in his opinion, inadequate to his needs. However it was the best he could squeeze out of the Titans. He suspected that there were still some in the organisations that didn't believe in his experiments. At least Captain Om was a believer and his approval meant that Mooro could get just enough support to keep working.

The Federation Forces crew of _Hougourmont_ had been rather lax in their maintenance. This gave the base a dilapidated appearance with many systems operating at less than peak efficiency. Doctor Mooro's arrival had forced the previously lazy crew into almost herculean feats of activity to make the base fully operational. Mooro sighed as a pair of ratings manhandled a large cargo container through the habitation area towards an airlock.

"Is there something the matter, Doctor?" asked Ensign Zarn Farris. The boy pilot had been in his quarters.

"Hmm? oh hello Zarn. No nothing is the matter," replied Mooro, "Well I suppose something could be soon. High Command is sending us a mobile suit team to aid in the defence of this base."

"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Zarn. Mooro had noticed that the cyber-newtype pilot was a lot calmer here at _Hougourmont_ than at his previous postings. He couldn't figure out why this was.

"It should be. However the team is the 185th and they are bringing lieutenant comm-, sorry lieutenant junior grade Graser with them," said Mooro bitterly. "This is their punishment for loosing the _Perseus_. I suspect that Graser will try and find a way to cause the project to fail. He is a very bitter man."

"If he does then I will kill him," replied Zarn bluntly. Despite his new found calmness, Mooro noted, he was still a trained killer. "Nothing can interfere with the project."

Before Mooro could reply he was interrupted by the bases' internal communication system. "Doctor Mooro, the transport you have been waiting for has just arrived. It is docking at Pier Two."

"Thank you very much," replied Mooro. "Come Zarn there is someone I want you to meet. They are going to be very helpful to the project."

Dutifully Zarn followed his master out of the habitation area and into the zero gravity section of the base. Much like the Gate of Zedan the majority of the asteroids interior lacked gravity. Only a relatively small habitation wheel deep in the heart of the asteroid gave the benefit of gravity. _Hougourmont's_ dock area was only big enough for two docking piers. It could comfortably accommodate a pair of _Salamis Kai_ cruisers but things got a lot more difficult if anything larger wished to dock. Currently the modified _Columbus_ class transport _Fyen_ was docked at Pier One but this still left enough room for the second pier to be used. The transport docking there was tiny in comparison but given that it was only carrying passengers it hardly needed to be very large.

Doctor Mooro and Zarn quickly made their way to Pier Two's reception area. They arrived just before the airlock doors opened. Two rather burly looking military policemen were the first to emerge; they were the sort that looked as they got the job thanks to sheer body mass rather than intelligence. After them came a bookish looking woman wearing glasses.

"Doctor Mooro it is good to see you again," she said. "How is space treating you?"

"I could be better Ms Paxman," replied Mooro coolly. "But this is the only place to conduct the research I need. I trust she is okay?"

"Of course," snapped Lillia Paxman, "Ensign Set come here at once."

The figure that emerged next was diminutive in stature but more than made up for it with force of personally. She practically radiated confidence in the extreme. "Do not take that tone of voice with me woman," said Ensign Set forcefully. "You are nothing compared to me."

"Still as arrogant as ever I see," said Mooro with a slight smile. "Zarn, I would like to introduce you to Ensign Dae Set. She is also a product of Pyongyang. Ensign Set my I introduce Ensign Zarn Farris. You will be working together on the project."

Zarn was instantly captivated by Dae Set. He'd never been very good at guessing people's ages but he was fairly sure she was about his own age. He only had to look at her to tell that she was native to the Pyongyang area. She was, as far as he was concerned, stunningly beautiful but he could tell from her eyes that see looked on him with disgust.  
---

_Civilian launch TS-1004, Approaching manufacturing satellite Lambda-Seven, Republic of Zeon, Side 3,  
5th November_

Lieutenant Commander Vicktor von Habsburg-Lothringen adjusted his uniform slightly and then went back to twiddling with the tip of his handlebar moustache. He disliked lengthy shuttle trips intensely since he felt confined in the flimsy little vessels. Already two hours had passed since the shuttle had left Core-3. The Lambda-Seven manufacturing satellite was hidden in the most remote corner of Side 3. Considering what was contained within the satellite Vicktor did not consider this a bad thing. However it was immensely inconvenient.

"Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen, we are approaching Lambda-Seven," the pilot's voice crackled over the intercom into the passenger compartment. "We should be able to dock in the next ten minutes."

"Excellent news I look forward to experiencing gravity again," said Vicktor. There was a Germanic twinge to his accent but the more time he spent in the military the weaker it became. He had some leave due after his current assignment was over and he fully intended on returning home to the Habichtsburg. 

Turning to his travelling companions Vicktor continued, "Are you ready sergeant? I hope we won't be needing your services but you never can tell with these colonials."

"We are always ready sir," replied Sergeant Abhay Bipin. The Indian soldier was in charge of a heavily armed platoon of elite Titan marines. 

Vicktor had the full authority of the Titans and even the approval of the Republic of Zeon government to carry out his mission. However there was always the possibility that the Republic military personnel at Lambda-Seven might resist. Therefore Sergeant Bipin and his men had come along to make sure there wasn't any problems.

"There won't be any problems will there Mr Fitch?" Vicktor asked the little man sitting in the row behind him.

"O-of course not, Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen," said Mr Fitch. He was a nervous looking balding man in his mid-forties. Izechal Fitch was a representative of the Republic of Zeon's government; sent to ensure that nothing ill happened at Lambda-Seven. "Our men at Lambda-Seven are all loyal to the Republic. They will carry out any order given with the appropriate authority."

The final approach to Lambda-Seven was conducted in silence. When Vicktor looked out of the small porthole window next to him he could see two _Musai_ cruisers holding station next tot he satellite. One of the was a post war refit which sported so much needed anti-mobile suit weapons. The second ship was a two-turret variant from the latter stages of the One Year War. Vicktor did not know a great deal about that particular variant as only a handful had been built and used by the Principality's Granada base. In the grand scheme of things, however, the _Musais_ matter little. What really mattered was hidden inside the factory.

Vicktor could just see its red coloured bow sticking out into space. The closer the TS-1004 got to the factory the more he could see. He quickly began to appreciate just how important this ship was going to be. It was simply huge. Vicktor wasn't old enough to have served in the One Year War so he had only heard stories about the Principality's fearsome _Gwazine_ class battleships. Now he was coming face to face with the only one left in operation. It was called the _Gwadrim_ and it was the Republic of Zeon's most treasured secret.

The _Gwadrim_ had still been under construction when the One Year War ended. Knowing that the victorious Federation would never have allowed them to keep such a vessel various people within the new republic managed to hide the partly completed battleship. The records pertaining to the _Gwadrim_ were destroyed before the Federation Forces seized control of the shipyards. As the years passed the _Gwadrim_ remained hidden at the Lambda-Seven factory satellite. Slowly but surely engineers from the Republic started to complete the battleship. They planned on it being the Republic's insurance if the Zabi loyalist who had fled to the Axis asteroid ever returned. They did not merely complete the _Gwadrim_ they improved upon the design incorporating many new technologies. The entire mobile suit hanger was redesigned to make use of two mobile suit catapults which both faced forward. The hanger was also enlarged to fit in no fewer than twelve mobile suits. Both the engines and the power plant were replaced with newer and more efficient models which greatly increased the cruising range and combat ability. It was indeed a fearsome ship and now Vicktor was going to command it.

Before long the TS-1004 had landed in the _Gwadrim's_ hanger. After the hanger was sealed and oxygenated Vicktor and his fellow passengers disembarked. Waiting for them was a small part of the Republic military officers. First and foremost was a man in a captain's uniform who Vicktor presumed was the current commander. He could tell that the captain was a veteran of the One Year War though unlike most of the veterans that Vicktor had them. Many of them were broken men easily pushed around by both the Federation and the Titans. This man, however, held himself up high and looked the consummate professional.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Vicktor von Habsburg-Lothringen," declared Vicktor to the Zeon officers. "In the name of the Titans and by order of the Republic of Zeon government I am taking command of this vessel." He believed that a good first impression was important. Even if this captain wasn't easily pushed around a show of confidence was always welcome.

After eyeing Vicktor up for a few moments the captain replied. "My name is Lorin Halifax, Captain in the Republic of Zeon Space Forces and commander of the _Gwadrim_. Let it be noted that I strongly object to the Titans seizing control of this vessel."

"Your objection is noted captain, but it does not change anything," replied Vicktor coolly. "Our good friend here Mr Fitch carries with him all the documents I need to take control of the _Gwadrim_."

"I don't doubt that," said Halifax. "However I feel that giving over our only weapon of defence against the Zabists to the Titans just because they are feeling a little hot under the collar is inexcusable." He didn't let Vicktor get a reply in before continuing. "However I will comply with the orders. I am no traitor to me nation."

"Good," replied Vicktor. He did not now what to make of Captain Halifax. He was clearly loyal to the Republic but was more than willing to criticise it. "You should know captain that the Titans are your best insurance against any renegade Zeons. Serve us well and you will have our protection against anything they try to do. Betray us and we can not help you at all." He let the Zeons chew that over a bit before continuing. "Now we must get ready to leave as soon as possible. We are due to meet the _Hario_ in twenty four hours time over the border in Federation territory. They are carrying a supply of mobile suits for our little fleet. We just can't use the relics you people have."

---

_Anti-Earth Union Group colony Sweetwater, Somewhere in the vicinity of L2  
6th November_

The main community hall in Sweetwater's rather modest residential district was a hive of activity. The graduation party for two of the trainee squads was well under way. Everyone who wasn't on duty was attending the party. Recently there had not been a great deal to celebrate and so the party was being used to bolster the morale of all who could attend.

A stage had been erected at one end of the hall and the well known band called The Von Braun Express were playing a set. James Keffer was hovering near the buffet table at the side of the hall with a glass of champagne in one hand and tucking into the nibbles with the other.

"Are you enjoying the music, Lieutenant?" asked Herbert Smyth. The Anaheim Electronics representative was also hovering by the buffet table. Smyth was really out of his depth at this sort of event. He did not like mingling with the soldiers as the majority of them were frightfully common. "They've been topping the Luna Music charts for months now. It was quite a coup for us to get them."

"I don't particularly like this type of pop music," replied James. He noticed the all too visible flicker in Smyth's face. "I prefer something with a little more edge to it. The Cylinders were my favourite group when I was growing up."

"I don't believe I've ever heard of them before," commented Smyth. Once again he was totally out of his depth. He had been told by head office that The Von Braun Express were all the rage and would be perfect for the party. Of course he himself knew pretty much nothing about popular music.

"oh I shouldn't imagine you would," said James with a slight bitterness in his voice. "They were a local band back home at _Wothott_ colony. Unfortunately they were killed when the colony was attacked. Quite a shame. They were on the verge of becoming something really big."

"I-I'm sorry," managed Smyth.

"There's nothing to apologise about," said James. "It's not as if you can do anything about it."

"How are your squad of trainees doing?" asked Smyth, desperately trying to change the subject.

"I think they'll be ready for active service in a couple of weeks," replied James after taking a sip of champagne. "They took the death of Arnold Dent hard, especially Raima Sen. They'll toughen up quickly enough though once we get them out there."

"Well I think it's been a blessing having you here Lieutenant," said Smyth. "Having someone with your experience teaching the trainees has been invaluable."

"I'll admit that teaching these kids has probably done some good," said James calmly. "However I'd say that you've been wasting time with this damned guard duty. The _Valiant_ would have been better utilised doing what we were meant to do. She's a patrol ship not a damned guard ship."

Smyth was left flustered when James walked off briskly. James considered Smyth to be a pathetic little man without the power to defend himself properly. There was little real point in arguing with him since he had the backing of Anaheim but it was good to blow off a little bit of steam.

"Lieutenant Keffer, can I have a word?" The voice came from behind James and he turned to see the youthful and rather attractive Raima Sen. She wore the full Federation Forces dress uniform even though she had never enlisted. James meanwhile was still sporting his usual duty uniform, he never did like dressing up for anything.

"Of course, how can I help?" asked James. He liked Raima as a student. She was a capable pilot with a exceptional strategic mind. He sometimes wondered if she'd be better off in fleet command rather than the mobile suit corps.

"How do you deal with it?" she asked. "The death of a team mate I mean."

"Well that isn't an easy one. I don't care to think of how many team mates I lost over the years." he replied sombrely. "In a way it does get better by the sheer fact that you get desensitised. But you got to remember that I leant to deal with death during the One Year War. Going out on a mission and coming back with less than half a squad left was common place."

"So you mean the best way to deal with it is to just not care?" Raima looked somewhat confused and slightly disgusted by the very idea.

"Never stop caring. If you do that then you're just dead inside. I've seen that happen to people and they don't last long," said James. "What I'm trying to say is you need to learn to be a soldier through and through. You get taught to fight but rarely are you taught how to cope with being a solider. That comes with time unfortunately."

James' train of thought was disturbed by a young officer running into the hall and looking around anxiously. Eventually he spotted James and rushed over.

"Sir, where is Captain Jellico?" he asked quickly.

"Evening Lark," said James. "I think the Captain is having a chat with Commander Reese over by that cluster of pretty ladies near the dance floor. What's up?"

"New orders and it's urgent, thank you sir." Lark was already rushing across the room before James could reply.

"Well isn't that interesting," said James half to himself. "I think I'm going to have to find out what's going on." He strode off after Lark and with in a moment Raima was following him. By the time they had caught up with Lark he had already handed over the orders to Captain Jellico. 

"What's so important that it can't wait till the party is over, captain?" asked James.

Jellico looked up from reading the orders and his face was deathly serious. "It appears that the is hitting the fan James. Here." He passed the written orders to James for him to read.

It took James only a moment to take in the information. "You've got to be kidding me, with just two ships? Who the hell did you piss off Alexander? This is impossible."

At that moment Raima decided to make her presence known. "Sirs, I volunteer the services of my training team to assist you in any way possible with your mission."

"Stand down trainee, do you want to die?" snapped James. "You aren't fully trained yet, you'll be no help to us at all."

"Thank you for the offer Trainee Sen but you won't be needed," said Jellico more tactfully than James. "The best way for you to aid us will be to finished your training here." He turned to the the group of _Valiant_ officers who had gathered since the arrival of Lark. "Spread the word to all _Valiant_ and _Redoubtable_ crew members. We leave port in two hours. Sober up and get ready. We have a tough mission coming up and I want everyone to be at their very best. The hunt is on and I aim to claim the top prize!"

---

Author's notes:  
Full name: Vicktor Franz Josef Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix René Ludwig Gaetano Pius Ignazius von Habsburg-Lothringen


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

[i]RZS Gwazine Kai class battleship Gwadrim, Side 3 Border, L2

8th November UC 0087[/i]

The massive battleship [i]Gwadrim[/i] slowly made its way across the border into Federation territory. Not since the One Year War had a [i]Gwazine[[/i] class battleship left Side 3 to enter Federation space. The [i]Musai[/i] cruisers [i]Baramel[/i] and [i]Ortlinde[/i] followed in the shadow of the much larger vessel. The Titans had already employed [i]Musais[/i] in their battle against the AEUG so their passing the border was nothing unusual.

The [i]Alexandria[/i] class heavy cruiser [i]Hario[/i] was waiting over the border. A pair of [i]Antietam[/i] carriers and a pair of [i]Salamis Kais[/i] were also waiting with the [i]Hario[/i]. The two [i]Antietams[/i], modified [i]Columbus[/i] transports, were carrying the mobile suits needed by the [i]Gwadrim[/i] and her escorts.

On the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] bridge Lieutenant Commander Vicktor von Habsburg-Lothringen smiled to himself. He was sat on the rather large and ornate command chair situated in the middle of the bridge. Vicktor had never been on a command deck quite so large. There were dozens of crewmen at stations all around him. They, in turn, fed information to a much small command station off to Vicktor's right where Captain Lorin Halifax conducted the general running of the ship. Vicktor didn't bother lowering himself to actually getting involved in that sort of thing. He doubted the Zeon crew would even take his orders. Halifax had pledged his crew's loyalty but Vicktor wasn't entirely sure he could trust them all. As a precaution he'd arranged for some of Sergeant Bipin's marines to be stationed on the bridge.

They were running behind schedule and that annoyed Vicktor slightly. Problems with the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] engines had pushed back their departure by almost half a day. Then Captain Halifax had insisted on not pushing the engines too much while they settled in. In the long run Vicktor suppose it didn't really matter as long as the mission was carried out.

"How does it feel Captain?" asked Vicktor loudly.

"How does what feel, sir?" replied Captain Halifax as he looked up from his station. The captain retained a stern expression he knew exactly what Vicktor was referring to but didn't want to give anything away too soon.

"We are back in Federation territory with a Zeon crew and a [i]Gwazine[/i] battleship," said Vicktor. "According to your record this is the first time you've stepped outside of the Side 3 since A Baoa Qu. How does it feel to be in, aha, 'enemy territory' again?"

"Space is space, sir, it feels no different at all," replied Halifax smoothly. In reality he felt rather conflicted. It was Federation territory after all. He still felt that excitement he knew all too well from the war. However it was tempered with something else. He wasn't entirely sure but it was probably disgust that an Earthnoid, and a Titan no less, was the one in command and that the whole mission was for the benefit of the Earth Federation. He suspect that many of his former comrades were turning over in their graves.

"I don't believe you Captain but if you don't wish to talk so be it," said Vicktor coolly. He stood up and walked towards the main window. "Bring us alongside the [i]Hario[/i]. I want to transfer the supplies of mobile suits quickly."

Captain Halifax simply nodded and relayed the order to the various crewmen that needed to know. Finally he asked a question, "Sir once the mobile suits have been transferred what is our destination?"

Vicktor eyed the Zeon captain carefully. It wasn't out of the ordinary for him to want to know where the ship was headed. However Vicktor still did not trust him at all. The possibility that Halifax could use his position to hamper the mission had occurred to Vicktor but at this moment in time there was no way he could replace him.

"Our first destination will be the moon," replied Vicktor. "There we will be able to strike fear into the hearts of the AEUG. You don't need to know anything more than that for now."

"Lieutenant Commander we have a message for you from the [i]Hario[/i]," reported a crewman. "Lieutenant Commander Ayachi sends his congratulations on securing such a fine vessel for the Titans."

"Hmph, that Space Forces fool Ayachi is nothing but a glorified ferryman," sneered Vicktor. "I don't know why Captain Om allows the [i]Hario[/i] to be wasted on such a man."

---

As Lieutenant Adrian Boult stepped out of the shuttle and into the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] hanger the disgust on his face was obvious for all to see. He was a tall well built man with the air of a veteran pilot about him. Indeed he still bore the scar on his right arm where he'd been wounded during the One Year War.

"This ship stinks of Zeon," Boult declared to the group of pilots standing behind him. "I don't like it."

"I can't smell anything Lieutenant," voiced up the youngest pilot. "It smells like any other ship to me."

"Shut the hell up Chief Petty Officer Maazel you idiot," bellowed Lieutenant Junior Grade Christopher Warren-Green who was serving at Boult's second in command. "That goes for the rest of you maggots as well. Get one of these godamned spacenoids to show you to your rooms. The Lieutenant and I shall report to Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen."

The other four Titans pilots sounded their acceptance of the order and hurried off into the hanger.

"If this ship lives up to the reputation of the [i]Gwazines[/i] of old it should be a pretty interesting ship to serve on Adrian," commented Christopher as the two officers made their way to the lift that would take them to the bridge.

"I don't care if this cruise is interesting or not," said Adrian Boult bitterly. "My brother was killed at A Baoa Qu when his ship was destroyed by a [i]Gwazine[/i]. It burns inside to be on one of these monsters. What the hell were they thinking by doing this!"

"I'm sure Captain Om is only doing what he thinks is best for the Titans," counciled Christopher. "This ship will give the Titans a serious edge on the AEUG."

"We shouldn't have to resort to damned Zeon ships just to fight the AEUG," snapped Boult.

Presently they arrived at the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] bridge and found Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen deep in conversation with the captains of the two [i]Salamis Kai[/i] cruisers that were joining the squadron. Boult and Warren-Green waited their turn before being summoned by von Habsburg-Lothringen.

"So you are going to be my mobile suit commander," said von Habsburg-Lothringen. "I'm glad to see we have some veterans joining us."

"Sir, I'm Lieutenant Adrian Boult, leader of the 351st Mobile Suit Team, and this is Lieutenant Junior Grade Christopher Warren-Green, leader of the 498th Mobile Suit Team," said Boult smoothly. He tried not to allow his anger at the whole situation show through.

"And the other teams?" asked the Lieutenant Commander.

"Sir, they are Space Forces pilots that have yet to join us," answered Warren-Green.

"I specifically requested a full compliment of Titan pilots and they send me just two teams!" raged Vicktor. "I do not blame you, Lieutenants you are only following orders but this is very distressing. The Space Forces can not be trusted at all. What about our compliment of mobile suits?"

"Sir, my own team is equipped with the new Barzam mobile suit. Lieutenant JG Warren-Green's team is operating with Marasais," said Boult. "One of the Space Force's teams is also using Marasais and the rest are equipped with Hizacks."

"I suppose that is better than nothing," conceded Vicktor. "Very well Lieutenant you may go and acclimatise yourself with the [i]Gwadrim[/i]. oh one other thing Lieutenants, I will be hosting dinner in my cabin tonight, just a little welcome party for our new comrades. I will send someone to collect you."

---

_[i]AEUG 'Forrestal'-type Salamis heavy cruiser Valiant, between Lagrange point 2 and the Moon[/i]_

"It's been two days, Captain," commented Lieutenant James Keffer, "I don't think that we're going to find this damned [i]Gwazine[/i] by just patrolling."

"I know it's tedious James but we don't exactly have a lot of options," replied Captain Jellico. He was standing at the secondary navigation console and calculating potential courses that the enemy flotilla might have taken. There were far too many for the [i]Valiant[/i] and [i]Redoubtable[/i] to cover even if they split up. For now the two AEUG cruisers remained together, on Jellico's orders, just in case they did encounter the enemy.

"How could they have let the god damned Zeeks keep a [i]Gwazine[/i] battleship," Keffer complained. "It's just asking for trouble!"

"I have no idea where it came from James," replied Jellico. "The [i]Gwazines[/i] that didn't escape escape from A Baoa Qu were either destroyed or captured. The shipyards in Side 3 were impounded shortly after the peace treaty was signed. For all we know they somehow manage to salvage a derelict [i]Gwazine[/i] and repair it in secret." Seemingly giving up at the secondary navigation console Jellico returned to his command chair. "You should be concentrating more on the strategy of taking this enemy down rather than where it came from."

"All the strategies I've come up with involve us all dying after about five seconds," grumbled Keffer. "They all pretty much end with the [i]Valiant[/i] being shot down in a single volley and us poor pilots getting overwhelmed by dozens of Titan mobile suits."

"Damn it James, can't you be positive for once?" snapped Jellico. "You were all gloomy when I told you about our mission to capture the [i]Perseus[/i] and then you went and did nothing but complain when we were at Sweetwater. I swear you could drive a man to drink."

The last remark drew a stifled snicker from from the [i]Valiant's[/i] helmsman and navigator who'd been quietly working away at their stations. James lightly pushed off the deck and floated over to the crewmen and gave them both a knock on the head to remain them who was boss.

"Well then sir, if you want me to be positive I will be," said James sarcastically. "I can't wait to embrace this new challenging mission. It will fill me with joy to grapple with our enemies..."

"Captain! Object approaching from the stern at high speed," interjected the [i]Valiant's[/i] radar operator.

"Identification?" Jellico barked the question. Mostly out of his annoyance with James than anything else.

"It's too large to be a missile and the shape isn't consistent with any known mobile suit," reported Roberts the radarman. "Checking visual library....sir it appears to be a Saberfish fighter fitted with long range fuel tanks."

"What the hell is a Saberfish doing all the way out here?" wondered James. As the fighter got closer the image of it improved and it became apparent that it bore Earth Federation Space Forces livery.

"Sir, the pilot requests permission to come aboard," reported Mimi Curtis at the communication's station. "He says he has an important message to give you."

"Seems like an awfully elaborate ruse for the Titans to waste their time with," mused Jellico. "Very well, allow the fighter to dock and have an armed guard escort the pilot here."

Just over half an hour passed before the Saberfish's pilot was ushered onto the bridge still wearing his pilot's suit. "Captain Jellico, Lieutenant Keffer. My name is Ensign Masato Chiba of the EFSF asteroid base [i]Papelotte[/i] reconnaissance section. I was sent to find you by Lieutenant Lockhart," said Ensign Chiba. "Word reached us at [i]Papelotte[/i] that the Titans were up to something big in Side 3. I'm sure you've heard that they've manage to get their hands on a [i]Gwazine[/i] battleship. By pure chance, while out on patrol, my recon squad happened upon this [i]Gwazine[/i] shortly after it had crossed the border. We got as close as we dared and took as many pictures as we could before their mobile suits chased us away."

"You actually have documentary evidence of this [i]Gwazine[/i]?" asked Jellico.

"Yes sir, I've seen it with my own eyes," replied Chiba. "And sir, it isn't a standard [i]Gwazine[/i] as far as I can tell she's fitted with at least two launch catapults. There were five other ships escorting it. Two were [i]Musais[/i], two were [i]Salamis Kais[/i] and the last one was the only one we could identify, she was the [i]Hario[/i]."

"I commend your bravery Ensign but you haven't exactly told us anything new," commented James. "I suppose the pictorial information will be useful."

"That maybe so sir," replied Chiba slightly miffed that Keffer was being so dismissive. "However I was able to get a bearing on their course. Captain, they are headed for the Moon."

"Thank you ensign, you've been very helpful no matter what Lieutenant Keffer says. We'll get your fighter refuelled immediately so that you can return to [i]Papelotte[/i]," said Jellico. Ensign Chiba saluted, which Jellico returned, and then was escorted off the bridge. "Helm, set course for the Moon best speed."

---

[i]RZS Gwazine Kai class battleship Gwadrim, _between Lagrange point 2 and the Moon_[/i]

The [i]Gwadrim[/i] was one of those rare ships that was large enough to house an internal gravity block. This rotating wheel like structure granted the benefits of gravity to at least part of the [i]Gwadrim[/i]. It didn't surprise Lieutenant Adrian Boult much at all to discover that the commanding officer's suite took up nearly a quarter of the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] gravity block. That sort of excessive luxury devoted to just one person was a hang over from the days of the Zabis and was something Adrian hated.

The dining room that he now found himself in was also excessive. The design had a vague Earthy feel to it with plenty of wood panelling. However you could easily tell that the designer was a spacenoid and therefore naturally had a different design ethos to an earthnoid. It was also far bigger than it really needed to be Adrian estimated that a third of the mahogany dining table was unused. He and the rest of Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen's guests were shepherded towards their places at the table but what appeared to be an army of waiting staff.

Much to Adrian's surprise he found himself seating right next to the von Habsburg-Lothringen; who was at the head of the table. Opposite Adrian was Captain Halifax whose Zeon style uniform made him look decided out of place compared to the sea of Titan dress uniforms around him. While Adrian hated the very idea of it he knew that there was an amount of politicking going on in the seating arrangement. Clearly Halifax had such a "good" seat because von Habsburg-Lothringen was either keeping an eye on him or trying to flatter him. The same was probably true of his own place. Sitting on Adrian's left was Lieutenant JG Warren-Green followed by the other six mobile suit team leaders. At the far end was a Federation Forces lieutenant that Adrian did not know yet. On Halifax's side of the table were the captains and their executive officers. Adrian noted that the Zeon captains were sat higher up the table than the Space Forces officers. In fact that very last person was Captain Denha Mueton of the cruiser [i]Great Gable[/i]; not only was he the highest ranking captain but he also had by far the most experience given that he had been in the service of the Federation Forces for some twenty five years. Mueton had no worries about telling people what he really thought so it was most likely that was the reason he was out of favour.

"Gentlemen, welcome. I am pleased you could join me at my table," von Habsburg-Lothringen was clearly enjoying being the centre of attention. The servants were pouring wine for the guests a luxury that would have been impossible on most ships. "You will all be vital to the success of our mission. So please do enjoy yourselves as tomorrow the real work begins."

After a brief toast the servants brought out the starters. Adrian was amazed to see fresh meat and vegetables which had quite clearly been imported from the Earth. The colonies were, generally, self supporting when it came to food. However plants grown and animals bred in the colonies never quite tasted the same as those from the Earth. Adrian suspected it had something to do with the fertilisers and conditions in space. This food, meanwhile, definitely came from the Earth and Adrian couldn't possibly imagine how expensive it would have been.

"Lieutenant Boult, do you have any more information on that flight of space fighters we encountered earlier?" asked von Habsburg-Lothringen.

Adrian hastily swallowed and slice of wood pigeon he'd been eating to reply. "Sir, based on the information we were able to gather they appear to have been a reconnaissance flight based on one of the asteroid supply bases along the Side 3 border. Given the location we crossed the border there are only two locations they could have come from; it was either [i]_Hougourmont[/i] or [i]Papelotte[/i_]."

"Both Federation Forces facilities?" asked the lieutenant commander.

"As far as I am aware sir, yes," replied Adrian. "Intelligence certainly doesn't suggest that the AEUG has a presence at those facilities."

"It wouldn't matter even if the AEUG did find out already," said von Habsburg-Lothringen. "In fact it will probably help our mission somewhat."

"I don't understand, sir, what is our mission?"

"Well I suppose now is a relatively safe time to inform you all of our mission directives," said von Habsburg-Lothringen with a flourish. "The rebels might have sacked Kilimanjaro but we will not allow them any respite here in space. Everyone knows that those treacherous lunarians are fully backing the AEUG. We don't have the resources to occupy all the lunar cities. Therefore we have been given orders to raid the AEUG supply lines radiating out of the lunar cities instead. With the strength we have thanks to the [i]Gwadrim[/i] nothing but the most powerful AEUG fleet will be able to stop us. In fact, if anything, we want their most powerful forces coming after us." At that last remark he slammed his fist down on the table. "Our force can, and will, crush anything they send at us. Even the infamous [i]Argama[/i] will fall under our guns."

Adrian was beginning to understand his commanding office now. The man could sound tough when needed. In fact several of the junior officers were hanging on his every word, especially the sycophantic Federation Forces personnel. Captain Mueton meanwhile remained stoney faced but Adrian could tell that the experienced captain was holding his tongue. Adrian was also somewhat sceptical of von Habsburg-Lothringen's claims. The [i]Gwadrim[/i] was indeed a powerful warship but it was still vulnerable to mobile suit attack, just like any other warship. He suspected that von Habsburg-Lothringen was a advocate of the big gun battleship rather than the mobile suit. It was true that the Titans had a certain flair for intimidation gestures. Dark coloured mobile suits and the mighty [i]Dogosse Gier[/i] were proof of that and the [i]Gwadrim[/i] would certainly fit that mould. However Adrian believed that you could achieve a lot more with mobile suits than battleships. Of course he didn't have any say in the matter so his opinions were pretty much irrelevant.

The rest of the meal continued rather uneventfully. As soon as Adrian thought he could he made his excuses and left under the pretext of planning the next day's mobile suit exercises. He didn't like those kinds of situations at all. They were just false and pretentious. Anyway he had plenty to think about on his own.

---

[i]RZS Gwazine Kai class battleship Gwadrim,_ approaching Lunar orbit_

_9th November UC 0087_[/i]

The emergency klaxon woke Adrian much earlier than he had planned to get up. It took him only a few moments to realise that it wasn't any old emergency alarm. It was a level one battle stations alarm. He practically fell out of his bed and staggered over to the wall mounted closet to his uniform. He was fortunate enough to get a cabin all to himself in the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] gravity wheel. It was a perk he enjoy quite a lot. Naturally it paled in comparison with von Habsburg-Lothringen's quarters but it was more than enough for his needs.

Barely six minutes after first hearing the alarm Adrian was swinging himself into the cockpit of his Barzam mobile suit. The Barzam was one of the newest mobile suits in the Titans' arsenal. Adrian had only limited experience operating the black and blue mobile suit since his team had only just been equipped with them before being assigned to the [i]Gwadrim[/i]. From what limited experience, however, he'd learned to respect the machine. It had formidable performance that made the Hizack look like some One Year War antique. It even made the Marasai look dated.

"This Boult of the 351st to control reporting in," he said on the internal communication line. "What's going on up there?"

It was Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen that replied. "Good morning Lieutenant I hope you rested well last night."

"As well as I could before this interruption, sir," replied Adrian levelly.

The European commanding officer merely laughed at Adrian somewhat insolent response. "We are incredible lucky lieutenant. We have haven't even reach Lunar orbit yet and we've already found our first target."

"Sir?" asked Adrian as he adjusted the fit of his pilot's suit helmet slightly.

"We have detected an AEUG convoy and we are closing on it now," replied von Habsburg-Lothringen smugly. "Three transport ships with Anaheim Electronics markings. They haven't replied to our communication attempts. Therefore I have ordered their destruction."

"What part are our mobile suits to play in this action, sir?" asked Adrian. Three transport ships were hardly a challenge. A single [i]Salamis Kai[/i] could deal with something like that.

"As soon as we are in range we will be giving our gunners an opportunity for some practice," said von Habsburg-Lothringen. "I doubt there will be any survivors but just to be sure I want you to take your team along with Lieutenant JG Verdana's team off the [i]Great Gable[/i] and clean up anything still moving."

"And if they try to surrender?"

"I'm sure your report will make mention of the minovsky particle interference being too intense to receive any transmissions," said the ship driver. His expression was stern but there was a slight tint of pleasure in his voice.

"Understood, sir,"

---

_[i]AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, approaching Lunar orbit[/i]_

"What's all the commotion about?" asked James Keffer as he floated through the the hatch to the rear of the [i]Valiant's[/i] bridge. He was followed by Lieutenants Cole and Williams. They had been in what passed for a planning meeting on the [i]Valiant[/i] though unfortunately they hadn't come up with much yet.

Captain Jellico turned to address his pilots. "The observers on the [i]Redoubtable[/i] spotted flashes up ahead in Lunar orbit. It looks like its a battle. We've confirmed the flashes but can't say for certain what is happening."

"Do you think it's our target, sir?" asked Cole. The veteran mobile suit sniper had a grim look upon his face. So did Keffer but that was more of a traditional feature.

"It's a possibility," replied Keffer. "I'm not sure if that'd make use incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky."

"The latter probably," commented Jellico. He was starring at fuzzy images of the distant battle. They were at least half an hour away but the thought of having to battle a [i]Gwazine[/i] weighed heavily on his shoulders. He would question the logic of sending battlegroup against a single [i]Alexandria[/i] let alone a Zeon battleship escorted by five warships. Of course there were no other choices available. "Lieutenant Keffer, prepare your mobile suit teams for battle. Our enemy has taken the initiative but we can't let them keep it."

"Yes, sir!"

---


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

_[i]AEUG 'Forrestal'-type Salamis heavy cruiser Valiant, approaching Lunar Orbit_

_9th November UC 0087[/i]_

The black Rick Dias' cockpit hatch closed tight with a definite clunking sound. Lieutenant James Keffer quickly ran through the pre-flight checks before double, then triple, checking his attack mobile suit's weapons systems. He didn't want there to be a failure mid-battle. Under normal circumstances that would be extremely dangerous; in the present situation it would probably be fatal.

He keyed in the squadron communication channel before speaking to his unit. "Everyone ready?" His subordinates chorused their confirmations. "Okay, as we've already discussed the [i]Redoubtable's[/i] Nemo team will provide cover for the cruisers. That leaves us up front to deal with the Titans directly."

"What's the plan, sir?" asked Joel Williams.

That was the question James had been dreading. This was one of those rare situations where he didn't have a fully formed plan. The odds were too heavily stacked against the AEUG force that victory seemed impossible.

"Don't get killed is pretty much it at the moment," replied James. He tried not let his voice betray anything.

"ah man I hate that plan," complained Jason Raynor. His kitbashed Nemo Cannon was standing next to James' Rick Dias in the hanger.

"We haven't used that one in a while James," commented Marcus Cole.

"Cut the chatter you two," snapped James. "If we get close enough to this [i]Gwazine[/i] our best bet is to try and hit the spherical fuel pods. With luck we might set off some secondary explosions. Of course that assumes we'll be able to get in close enough to it. That fleet can swamp us with mobile suits if they want."

"Well with any luck most of their suits will be out dealing with whatever they encountered," commented Philip Terizan. "We should be able to blow through any screening suits they've got left and when the others return they'll be low on fuel and munitions."

"This isn't the time for a discussion on the mobile suit deployment strategy of the Titans." said James sternly. "Cole and Raynor I want you two to hang back and provide close support fire. The Zeek boys and myself will take point and punch through the enemy lines. Got that?" Again there was a chorus of confirmations. "Good. Now lets get out there!"

---

[i]AEUG Salamis Kai cruiser Redoubtable, approaching Lunar Orbit[/i]

The bridge of the [i]Redoubtable[/i] was deathly quiet. The battle that was being fought in Lunar orbit, the battle they too would be joining soon, was weighing heavily on the bridge crew. Commander Barnard Reese, complete with brown over-jacket and peaked hat, eyed up the images of the battle. He hated the feeling of anticipation when waiting for the fighting to start. The very notion of what they were going to be facing wasn't helping matters either.

"Weapons, I believe our main guns are now in range of the Titan forces," he said calmly. Barnard believed that it was absolutely imperative that a ship's commanding officer never appeared weak or afraid when going into battle. The ship's entire compliment took strength from their captain.

"Errrr....yes, sir, they are," reported a rather young and fresh faced crewman sitting at the gunnery station. "I'm sorry I did not report it right away, sir."

"Don't worry about it son," said the commander with a slight smile, "I've been playing with guns on boats like this since before you even went to secondary school."

Barnard surely meant for that to reassure the young crewman but it only made him feel worse. After all he'd just discovered that his commanding officer was a specialist in gunnery, how else could he judge the effective range of the main guns from sight alone. He'd have to be on his toes to makes sure he didn't screw up.

"Commander, the [i]Valiant[/i] is launching her mobile suits," reported the tactical officer, "She is also shifting her position for a better support fire location."

"Very well," replied Barnard. "Helm match the [i]Valiant's[/i] course and maintain combat formation. Flight have Lieutenant Flick's team launch. They are to provide cover for ourselves and the [i]Valiant[/i]. They are also to provide support to Lieutenant Keffer's mobile suit teams."

His men jumped into action like the well oiled machine that they were. The crew of the [i]Redoubtable[/i] to be good at what they did. This civil war in the Federation Forces was quite unlike any conflict that had beset the Federation before. Unlike the massed battles of the One Year War it was a much more personal affair. After months of combat there had been no major battles and even the large battles only a handful of ships were engaged in the fighting. Barnard knew that this sort of low level fighting took a certain type of tactical nous. He wasn't so sure he had it himself but he knew that Captain Alexander Jellico, captain of the [i]Valiant[/i], had it by the bucket load.

Barnard could feel the vibrations through the [i]Reoubtable's[/i] hull as her compliment of Nemos took off. The quartet of interceptor mobile suits fanned out to form a line roughly half way between the cruisers and Lieutenants Cole and Raynor's mobile suits.

"Commander we are receiving targeting data from the [i]Valiant[/i]," reported the spaceman seated at the communications station. "She's getting ready to fire."

"Very good. Weapons feed in the [i]Valiant's[/i] data. Her sensor suite is more powerful than ours," said Barnard. "Lock in our assigned targets and prepare to fire."

---

[i]RZS Gwazine Kai class battleship Gwadrim,_ approaching Lunar orbit[/i]_

The [i]Gwadrim's[/i] bridge was as hubbub of activity. The first time that anyone noticed she AEUG ships approaching from behind was when a scarlet mega particle beam streaked past. This resulted in both Lieutenant Commander von Habsburg-Lothringen and Captain Halifax bellowing abuse at the observers.

"At this range they have little chance of hitting us," Halifax reported to von Habsburg-Lothringen.

"I wasn't expecting the AEUG to get any vessels to intercept us so quickly," said Vicktor. "Have we identified them yet?"

"We have one confirmed [i]Salamis Kai[/i] cruiser. The other appears to be a modified [i]Salamis Kai[/i]," replied Captain Halifax.

"Sirs, the [i]Hario[/i] is returning fire with her aft guns," reported the [i]Gwadrim's[/i] tactical officer. "The enemy vessels are outside the effective range of the [i]Great Gable[/i] and [i]Helvellyn's[/i] aft guns. Six enemy mobile suits approaching."

"They want to attack this fleet with just six mobile suits? The AEUG are even greater fools than I thought!" scoffed Vicktor. "Well it's their funeral I suppose. Have Lieutenant Warren-Green's team launch to intercept. The [i]Ortlinde's[/i] team will act as support. "

"Sirs, we're received a communication from Lieutenant Boult," reported the communication officer. "He reports that all enemy vessels and mobile suits have been destroyed. No life pods escaped either. He is returning to base."

"Excellent. I knew Boult would be a good solider," Vicktor mused. "Confirm the status of his team. If they are able to have them join Warren-Green in attacking the AEUG."

---

Joel Williams' green Nemo raced through the darkness between the two opposing forces. His interceptor mobile suit was equipped with a clay bazooka, in addition to the standard beam rifle, for extra firepower. He had two magazines of armour piercing rounds for it.

He tried to put the enormity of the task at hand out of his mind. It was rather difficult though. He'd been just a young conscript pilot during the One Year War. He could vividly remember the [i]Gwazine[/i] battleships and what an immense moral booster they were whenever one entered battle. Back then he'd been foolish enough to think them invincible and was quickly proven wrong in the bloodbath of Solomon and then at A Boa Qu. The mighty warships still brought up emotions in Joel that conflicted somewhat with this mission.

It sickened him to think that the Republic of Zeon had sunk so low as to be actively assisting the Titans; an organisation that had already proven itself no better than the Zabis. The Republic had had a great deal of autonomy and in recent years the Federation's influence had been receding. Joel just couldn't comprehend why they had jumped into bed with the Titans.

The beeping of the Nemo's sensors jerked Joel back into the present. His mobile suit's combat computer detected six in coming mobile suits. The poor quality camera video images were replaced with crisp computer graphics representing a trio of Hizacks and a trio of Marasais. The Hizacks did not worry Joel at all. His Nemo was a more than a match for the ageing mono-eyed machines. The Marasais were a different kettle of fish. They were much more powerful mobile suits and made Joel wish the [i]Valiant's[/i] taskforce had a few more Rick Dias knocking about.

Right now, though, engaging the Titan mobile suits was not the goal. Sure they would eventually tussle with them but the target was the enemy capital ships. As such it was the Titans that opened fire first. The AEUG mobile suits made minor adjustments to their position to make it harder to be hit but they carried on regardless. As the two groups closed Keffer, at the point in his black Rick Dias, switched to his beam pistols and started firing. He targeted the Hizacks and Marasais evenly. No intention was made to hit them but rather scatter them and break up their coordination. It worked perfectly and allowed the Nemos following him to rocket past. Seconds later one of the Hizacks was downed by a pin-point sniper shot from Marcus Cole's GM Sniper Custom.

The Titans hesitated. Unsure as to whether they should be chasing the Nemo or hunting the sniper. In those seconds of hesitation a Marasai had its left leg blown away by Raynor's beam cannons.

In what felt like seconds later the Nemos were amongst the Titan ships. Like a big red beast the [i]Gwazine[/i] loomed in the centre of the formation. She was flanked on either side by a pair of [i]Musais[/i] towards her rear and a pair of [i]Salamis Kais[/i] towards her front. The [i]Hario[/i] hung in space just above the formation. Steeling himself Joel pointed his bazooka at the enemy battleship and fired off all eight rounds before hitting the release catch and reloading the oversized rocket launcher.

---

_[i]AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, approaching Lunar Orbit[/i]_

The firing of the [i]Valiant's[/i] pair of dual main gun turrets was perfectly timed. Unfortunately the gunners were having little luck in actually hitting anything. With the mobile suits now engaging the enemy near the [i]Gwazine[/i] battleship the gunners were forced to divert their attention to the supporting ships. This job wasn't being made any easier due to return fire coming from the [i]Hario[/i]. Her guns, while no more lucky, were doing a good job at disrupting the [i]Valiant's[/i] attacks.

"Damn it, why does it have to be the [i]Hario[/i] causing us trouble," snarled Captain Jellico. "Why couldn't it be the [i]Al Giza[/i] or the [i]Damascus[/i]? Even if Ayachi has jumped in bed with the Titans the [i]Hario[/i] is still a Federation Forces vessel and I don't want to fire upon them."

No one on the bridge answered. At times like this he wished he had someone to talk too. His former executive officer, Kyle Walker, had the left the ship some time before to command the [i]Perseus[/i]. The [i]Valiant[/i] was more or less operating without a true executive officer at the moment. The AEUG was currently facing a bit of shortage of experienced warship officers. A somewhat timid young female lieutenant, called Ekaterina Constantin, was covering many of the duties previous done by Walker. She was perfectly skilled at what she did but the young Romanian had not built up the courage to talk to him in any situation other than officially. Alexander had difficulty in confiding in anyone who wasn't willing to confide in him.

"Captain, it appears that the convoy has been defeated," reported the [i]Valiant's[/i] tactical officer.

"Dammit," was Jellico's simple response.

"More enemy mobile suits are closing in on Lieutenant Keffer's position," said Lieutenant Constantin. "Their position will soon become untenable."

"We have neither the number of mobile suits or ships for this damnable mission," cursed Jellico. "I want a full spread of missiles targeted at the [i]Gwazine[/i]." Suddenly there was the bright flash of an explosion off to the [i]Valiant's[/i] side before anyone could reply.

"Sir! The [i]Redoubtable[/i] has been hit!"

"How badly?" barked Jellico.

"One moment, we're getting a reply from Commander Reese," reported Constantin. "Her A-turret took a direct hit. It has been completely destroyed but they are reporting no secondary explosions. The damage appears to be restrained solely to the loss of the turret. She can still fight."

"We are still in this battle then. Anything on Lieutenant Keffer?"

"Sorry sir, but we can not get anything exact. The minovsky particles are too thick." reported the tactical officer.

"Sir, perhaps we should withdraw," suggested Lieutenant Ekaterina Constantin. "With the convoy destroyed and the [i]Redoubtable[/i] damaged there is little point in continuing, sir."

Jellico starred into the young officer's hazel eyes. Her face was framed by two locks of hair dyed red and undoubtedly held in place by copious amounts of gel. Her hair style was rather an odd thing to focus on in the middle of a battle though and Jellico quickly snapped out of it.

"As long as that battleship is still out floating about in space then there is every reason to keep fighting," to illustrate the point he pointed to the distant red shape. "We didn't win the One Year War by running away after every little scratch."

---

Beams from a pair of Hizacks, packing beam rifles, caused Lieutenant James Keffer to break off his attack on the [i]Gwazine[/i]. He swung his Rick Dias round to avoid their attacks and attempt to get a shot off himself. He pressed the weapon selector button to activate the automated controls to store his clay bazooka on its rack with taking out a beam pistol. The Rick Dias featured considerably better speed and manoeuvrability than the Hizacks allowing Keffer to rapidly get behind them. He squeezed the trigger three times and all three beams struck the leading Hizack in the backpack. The green mobile suit seemed to disintegrate into thousands of tiny shards of debris.

The other Hizack slipped off to the right to try and avoid a similar fate. It did not get very far, however, before a beam from a different angle torn through its torso. To Keffer's surprise Joel Williams' Nemo dropped into view and approaching close enough to skin talk.

"Sir, the bazookas are having no effect!" reported Williams. "The hide of this beast is just too thick. We need heavier weapons if we're going to make a dent in it. I tried to punch through to their hanger but the defensive fire was too intense. What shall we do?"

"Shit, this is a real bad wolf situation," Keffer muttered to himself. "We have to keep trying!" He impressed upon his subordinate.

At that moment a stray beam tore through the clay bazooka being held by Joel's Nemo. Not only did it destroy the bazooka but is also shredded the Nemo's right arm. It was at about that time that James realised the futility of the situation.

"Get the others and fall back, I'll cover you!" ordered Keffer. He pressed his feet down on the foot peddles and thrustered away from the damaged Nemo. Unfortunately he didn't get far before his path was blocked by a pair of Marasais backup by a trio of Hizacks. James gritted his teeth and fired.

---

Lieutenant Adrian Boult's Barzam team weaved a lazy course across the battlefield. He didn't see the need to get involved with the battle around the [i]Gwadrim[/i]. Warren-Green and the rest of the pilots there were more than capable of dealing with the intrusion. Adrian was more interested in the enemy ships. If he could get close enough to them then not only would he be able to identify them but he'd also be able to cause them some serious trouble.

Unfortunately his train of thought was disrupted by a sniper shot tearing through space towards him. It took no skill at all to avoid it and the two slower cannon shots that followed. He found it rather amusing that the AEUG thought they could kill him with long range attacks like that. He turned his Barzam down towards the origination point for those beams. His wingmen followed and all three of them had to deftly work their way through the barrage of mega particle beams being traded between the two sets of capital ships.

Adrian raised an eyebrow when his combat computer identified the two enemy mobile suits. A modified Nemo and a GM Sniper Custom. He didn't think antiques like that GM were still around. All the more proof that the AEUG were getting desperate. It took another shot at him which once again he easily dodged. His wingman wasn't so skilled and the beam grazed his Barzam's right shoulder. Adrian made a mental note to rebuke Ensign Clements at the debrief about her sloppy flying.

He readied his beam rifle and took aim. The rifle was of a rather unusual design, when compared with that of the Marasai or Hizack. It had been specifically designed for the Barzam and you could tell just by looking at it. It always took time to get used to a new weapon but Adrian could tell that he wasn't really going to like this rifle. It just didn't feel right when he used it. When the sortie was over he was going to have to try and find a replacement.

He fired two shots that the GM easily dodged. Adrian's wingmen peeled offer to deal with the modified Nemo. The GM darted off on an evasive course that took it away from the Nemo but closer to the AEUG ships. Adrian jetted after it. His Barzam was much faster and so he caught up with it quickly. The GM tried a snap shot with its beam sniper rifle, which Adrian noticed was a Titans designed beam launcher, however the Barzam was in so close that it simply knocked the launcher away. Now the two machines were face to face. The GM went for its beam sabre while Adrian fired off his vulcan gun pod. The multi-barrelled machingun spat 60mm bullets out at an alarming rate that tore the GM's head to pieces. Adrian put the GM Sniper Custom out of its misery with a single rifle shot to the torso.

---

A lime green beam ripped through the left leg of Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias at the joint. Though rocked by the explosion James was still able to snap his beam pistol around to blast off the head of the offending Hizack. There were, however, far too many enemies. A virtual wall of beam rifle fire hemmed in the black Rick Dias. James did his best to dodge the incoming shots but even he was having trouble. One beam grazed the Rick Dias' left side random binder forcing James to eject it before it exploded.

One of the Marasais dropped out of the formation and approaching the Rick Dias with its beam sabre drawn. Before James could bring his beam gun around the Marasai darted in and sliced off the black assault suits' right hand. Cursing loudly James activated one of his own beam sabres. As the Marasai came in again he blocked its swipe with his sabre and proceeded to punch the bright red mono-eyed machine with what remained of the Rick Dias' right arm. As the sabre lock was broken James lashed out with a wide swing of his own. However the Marasai pilot recovered rather quickly from the punch and was able to manoeuvre away while only loosing a chunk out of his shield.

Spotting a gap in James' defences the Marasai plunged its beam sabre into the waist armour of the Rick Dias. The blade of superheated plasma scorched its away through the gundarium gamma armour plating destroying everything it touched. The blade delved so deep as to damage the rocket thrusters mounted in the Rick Dias' rear skirt armour. The wound also came as something of shock to the mobile suits power train causing it to short out added burnt electrics to the odour of sweat in the cockpit.

James was forced to admit to himself that things were looking pretty grim. Fortunately his rescue came in the form of a trio of Nemos. Charging in with reckless abandon they disrupted the Titan mobile suits, which had all been concentrating on James' Rick Dias, long enough for a Nemo to grab the immobile suit drag it clear.

"I thought I told you guys to fall back," said James after a few moment. While most of the suit's electrics were fried there was just enough functionality to get the communications suite working.

"Sure you did, sir, but Lieutenant Williams thought it would be best to rescue you," said Philip Terizan whose Nemo was holding onto the Rick Dias.

"But I was buying you time to escape yourselves," grumbled James. "You weren't supposed to worry about me."

"Well begging your pardon, sir, but you did buy us enough time to regroup," said Terizan. "Also given that you were risking your neck for us it was only right we risk our necks for you, sir."

"Hey look, the Titans have fired off a recall signal," said Richard Vaughn. He had made contact with the Rick Dias to pass on the information. Minovsky particles were still too thick for radio communication. "I guess they must have gotten bored with playing with us."

"You aren't going to hear me complaining," commented James. It was strange. He was starting to feel a lot more comfortable around the trio of ex-Zeons he had as subordinates. He supposed it was only natural that comrades in arms would grow used to each other even if only seven years earlier they'd been on opposite sides of a terrible war.

"I can't see Lieutenant Cole's mobile suit anywhere," reported Terizan. "And it looks like Lieutenant Rayor's been beaten up pretty bad, the [i]Redoubtable's[/i] team is hauling him in."

"Shit, another friend to bury," muttered Keffer before slumping back in his linear seat.

---

_[i]AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit_

_10th November[/i]_

An Anaheim Electronics transport ship came along side the [i]Valiant[/i]. The two ships matched their speeds and various anchoring cables were crossed between the pair. Precious supplies started moving from the transport to the cruiser. Off in the distance a second transport was docked with the [i]Redoubtable[/i] helping to fix her damage as best they could.

On the bridge Captain Jellico quietly sipped at a carton of tea. It was hardly a civilised way to drink his favoured beverage but in lacking a gravity block he had to make do. He was also somewhat surprised by his latest guest.

"Miss Williamson. I didn't think you were involved in the supply corps," he said to the Anaheim engineer. "I do hope that business with the FA Mark II hasn't effected your standing at all."

"I'm touched by your concern Captain but I assure you my standing with the company is firm," she was slightly blustered by his question by brushed it off. "I'm here under the direction of Doctor Leighton. As you are aware the G-Defenser project won over our full armoured version in the contest to improve the Gundam Mark II. Well in a follow up to that contest Doctor Leighton has been working on a design to incorporate the G-Defenser into the Mark II itself in order to eliminate the need for a manned G-Defenser. Using an old movable frame, built for testing purposes, we have built a machine currently dubbed the Experimental Enhanced Gundam Mark II."

"Catchy name and a lovely little story Miss Williamson but does it have to do with my ship?" asked Jellico. He was feeling awfully tired and really needed some sleep but with everything going on at once there hardly seemed like time for it.

"Given the current situation we have been ordered to hand it over to you," she said rather sullenly. It was clear to Jellico that she didn't like this idea. "It is already been unloaded in the hanger. In exchange we'll take Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias and see if we can repair it."

"Is this new prototype even tested?" It was Ekaterina Constantin that asked this question though Jellico had been thinking it. "An untested machine it hardly what this ship needs right now."

"It has been tested in the lab and at our Livermore site," replied the engineer. "Look I don't like this any more than you do. It isn't an easy mobile suit to master but its a darn sight more powerful than a Rick Dias. Lieutenant Keffer will be able to handle it."

---

Down in the [i]Valiant's[/i] hanger Lieutenant James Keffer stood on one of the upper gantries. He was watching the Anaheim technicians putting together his new mobile suit. They were just bolting the head into place. There was no doubting that it looked like a Gundam. He could still remember seeing the original Gundam shortly after the Battle for Solomon. He and a few other pilots had sneaked on board the [i]White Base[/i] while it was in port and got a good look at the legendary Gundam. It seemed weird to James that he'd be piloting a Gundam cast off. Sure there had been the Full Armour Gundam Mark II but that had been too bulking for him to consider it a true Gundam. This new machine was different; it felt real. James knew that Marcus would have loved to see it.

"James we're just got word from Granada. The [i]Gwazine's[/i] fleet passed by there a couple of hours ago," said Jason Raynor. He was sporting several different bandages. His Nemo had been beaten up pretty badly by a pair of Barzams before Lieutenant Flick's Nemos could reach him. It was, however, in the process of being repaired with the help of Anaheim technicians. "They shot down three transports. The city garrison sent up a couple of GM II squads out of desperation but they were wiped out to a man."

"Things are looking bad, eh, Jason?" James finally said in reply.

"It's been a while since it's been this bad that's for sure," replied the junior officer.

"However, things might just be looking up," said James a new item was unloaded into the hanger. It was painted blue and yellow and quite clearly a big gun. It was a Mega Bazooka Launcher and James couldn't help but think that it might just have the firepower to get the job done.

---


End file.
